Mandy Rose Chapter 1: Autophobia
by Kae Aleah
Summary: John/Oc The last time John saw his partner was when she broke into his house one night covered in bruises and blood. She bid him farewell without a reason why and fled into the night. 10 years later, they have a chance encounter because of Daisy and rekindled their friendship for only a second before Losef and his gang showed up at the gas station. First in the Mandy Rose Memorial.
1. Removal of Rose Red

**REMOVAL OF ROSE RED**

It was raining a lot outside, John thought while he laid in bed, hearing the drops rattle against the window like someone constantly tapping their fingers against it. He couldn't mistake the sound of steady footsteps though that was coming from downstairs, along with what seemed like fumbling through his fridge.

It couldn't have been anyone else. He was the only one who lives here and the door was always locked, never once giving his key to anyone. No one was in the house except for him. No one _should_ be in the house except for him.

So, as steady as he could, he reached his hand under his pillow and pulled out a 45. Glock with a silencer screwed at the end of it. John threw off his covers and headed downstairs where the intruder was rummaging around in his home. Everything was dark, save for the glass moonlight that gleamed through the windows that remained intact, so the intruder must have picked the lock of either the back or front door. John hid in the hallway that connected the front door and back. He peeked around and saw that it was the front door that was slightly cracked open. The kitchen light was even on too, but it was the fact that the front door was opened that told him exactly who it was.

John groaned and dropped his sneaking act. He walked straight into the kitchen and didn't even bother to worry about the intruder anymore. "Mandy?" he called out and saw the leather jacket-clad back of his friend, a woman who he's close enough to consider his partner, actually. "It's the middle of the night," he complained but was not angry.

"Yeah. And?" she said, her words a bit muffled because her mouth was stuffed with a PB & J sandwich that she casually made for herself. Like she usually does. This wasn't the first time Mandy broke into his house in the middle of the night. She was so overly relaxed about it that she even uses the front door. It was how John always knew it was her and not an actual intruder or someone threatening. No robber ever uses the front door.

Mandy turned her head around and stared at him with her cheeks full of sandwich bread. She had dark golden brown hair that laid against her shoulders that curled up at the end, and brown eyes that flickered like ambers against the glow of the light. What was worrisome though was the clear bruises against her face with fresh dripping blood. She had a black eye, a scarred purple cheek, and blood running down her nose.

She looked like she went 12 rounds with a heavyweight...and won.

John eyed her wounds. "You were working?" He was about to lay his gun on the counter when he noticed hers was there too. A Smith & Wesson Revolver. This caught him off guard but he quickly snapped back to reality like a rubberband, now standing on high alert.

This was wrong. That gun was her backup. Something she would only use when backed up in a corner...in her own home.

"Mandy...is everything alright?" He saw her hands, her bloody knuckles began to shake. "Hey..." John tried to speak more calmly to her and reached his hand out to brush his fingers against her bruised cheek to get a better look. She was shaking and her eyes were red, like what they do when you've cried for a while. "What happened to you?"

Mandy's lips curled up into a smile while a laugh escaped. "Good question. Really, really good question." She brushed him away and walked over to the other side of the kitchen. "Because I'm...I'm still trying to process, you know... Gears ain't working well right now." She used one deep breath and spoke in a rapid voice as if she hasn't accepted whatever had happened. She was a little frantic and her eyes were darting all over the room except on him.

She looked like she was going to lose her mind there and then. Break down and curl up into a ball never to speak or laugh with that carefree voice that he was so used to seeing, and the more she paced around the room the louder her voice was getting.

"Because you know...shit happened and you have to accept what happens and move on. Water under the bridge. Like, like, like...I don't know! Anything!" she shouted to think of something that floats on water.

When she stopped pacing, her face morphed to this realization the crossed her eyes and made them go wide. She took a breath. A single breath and a genuine smile crept to her lips. Mandy closed her eyes and let out all her the bottled up feelings into the air when exhaling.

"I'm leaving, John." Her voice was entirely calm now. Cool and composed, fully accepting what has transpired this night.

That didn't need much explanation. Mandy didn't mean 'leave the house' she meant 'leave the Tarasov Russian Mafia'. John could see it too, whatever happened must have pushed her over the edge for good and finally decided to end it. She was done, for good and for all.

They may have only been partners on an outside perspective but this woman was his only close friend and have had his back through the worse case scenarios.

"You won't get far." John shook his head and placed his hand on her shoulder in a small attempt to stop her.

"Oh, is that so?" She mumbled under a scoffing tone. Mandy knocked his hand off her shoulder and grabbed her revolver to check the cylinder. "One bullet, huh? That's gonna be a bit hard." She shrugged and cocked it back into place. "Guess that will have to do."

John watched in silence as Mandy paced back and forth to think of a plan. "What happened?" He had to ask because this was way too sudden for him.

Mandy stopped with her pacing and looked at him. "Stuff." She spat out her words and continued on.

Should he even try? She never listened to him in the first place and it always turned out fine in the end, saved for a few scruffs. He wanted to say that she wasn't thinking straight but if that was so, he knew she was over it. He never seen her so shaken up before.

"Hey." He called to her.

"So I think I got about 3 hours in counting to leave..." Mandy paid no mind to him.

"Mandy."

"Can't really go home either to grab anything..."

"Hey, hey. Mandy." He pulled his arms out and wrapped them tightly around her. She was still shaking and was even fighting him a little but he was strong enough to hold her down. "How long have we worked together?"

Mandy ceased her struggle and melted into his warmth that made her reluctant to leave. "Can't say I remember." Her head fell against his chest.

John laughed a bit. "Same here. Long enough I guess." He ran his hand down her hair and kissed the top of her head.

Mandy's lips began to quiver and her eyes threatened to water. She coiled her arms around his neck and pulled him down to meet her height, just holding him there, nothing else, but for her, it meant a lot since this was the first time he hugged her...sadly to be the last though.

She pulled away and sniffled. "We'd be lucky if we never saw each other again...But I have always been pretty luckless." Mandy wiped her tears, tucking the revolver behind her belt.

John followed Mandy to the back door so she could get away unnoticed. "You said you had 3 hours? That's not much."

"I'm thinking about the bright side here." Mandy cocked a grin and grabbed the doorknob but stopped when John grabbed her arm to halt her.

"'Rose Red'... Never thought you would leave it all behind." said John.

"Leave it all behind?" She sputtered out her words and rolled her eyes. "Ain't nothing to 'leave behind'. All because you're good at a job doesn't mean you gain a lot from it. And don't call me by that name. I always hated that nickname. It's Mandy Rose, dammit. If you call me that again then the last thing I'll say to you is 'Baba Yaga'."

John rolled his eyes and sighed. He looked down at his hand that held the Glock. "Here." He handed it to her. "You need more than one bullet to get out of town. At least take 16 more rounds with you."

Mandy dropped the magazine to check the rounds and popped it back into place. She looked over her shoulder at him and winked. "I'll be seeing you, John Wick." She pulled opened the door fast and ran out into the doom and gloom rain, disappearing into the darkness before his eyes could adjust.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**And so we begin a new romance story following Mandy Rose and John Wick. **

**The John Wick trilogy needs more love and I guess that's what I'm here for. Let me know what you think and I hope you stick around for the ride because we got two more stories after this one.**

**Sorry if you see any typos. I try to go back and edit it but they always seem to pop up like bugs whenever I just casually read a chapter. Hey, at least their very minor mess ups. Nothing that bad, right?**


	2. Daisy

**DAISY**

The first few months without Mandy went on like normal and the world continued to turn like she wasn't even apart of it anymore, like she was nothing but a ghost in the breeze of blood and gun smoke. She existed though and was a major part of his life until he met his wife, Helen.

Then Mandy became nothing more but a thought that occurred a couple of times every year. He would go at least six months without even a single thought of her and enjoyed his retirement with Helen from the bottom of his heart.

But in the end that was lost too.

Helen passed away and then there was nothing but the memories of his beloved wife and the rusty thoughts of his once best friend Mandy.

He recalls in the past Mandy having her 'talks' with him. Nothing special but nothing insignificant either. To her, they probably meant a lot since they had nothing to do with the 'job'. They were nothing but normal. It baffled him a little to think that 10 years later he was able to remember these very small details about Mandy and yet, go years hardly ever thinking about her, but lately, he found himself doing that more and more often now, days after Helen passed away.

Perhaps...it was just loneliness that suddenly reignited those memories.

The smallest thing though began to save him when it was presented at his doorstep. A small little fraction of hope and last present from his wife.

A small Beagle puppy named Daisy, and it was here that he began to slowly fill the void.

* * *

The long and drawn out morning began in a king-sized bed where only one laid now. No lights pierced through his eyes...only because Daisy managed to crawl over him and dominate his face and suffocate him in licks.

"I'm up... I'm up. I'm up." He lifted his hands in defeat.

Finally noticing the buzzing off his alarm clock, he turned it off and sat up in bed with Daisy whining and jumping on his back. John dragged himself out of bed and went to the front door to open it, Daisy running out first chance she got.

"Hey," John called out but noticed that she only had to do her business. "Oh...right." He scooped up the newspaper at his feet and waited for Daisy to come running back in.

Since it was only last night that he got her he had no dog food yet.

John poured a bowl of cereal for him and her. "We'll grab you some kibble later." He said and sat down for a silent breakfast in a house that he never noticed until now...was quite big.

There was no agenda, no plan, no To-do list or anything. John found a small spark of joy in just spending days riding around in is mustang to pass the time until it got dark, and that's what he'll do today.

He pulled his jacket over his body and grabbed his keys as Daisy sprinted around the corner to join him in his riding trip, calling shotgun right off the bat and jumped in before even he could sit down. John opened the garage door and pulled out, having to take a small trip to the gas station before anything.

* * *

It was a gas station out in the middle nowhere of the country-side backroads where a car would casually pass every five minutes or so, and it looked like no one was in at the moment.

John pulled into the station and parked his car beside a pump. He got out but accidentally left the car door opened for too long and Daisy suddenly sprung to life and leaped out of the vehicle and into the open world where there were tons of things to explore that her child eyes never saw before.

John looked up when he heard the tapping of her claws against the cement and saw her making a break for the road. "Daisy?" He called out and began to walk after her when he heard the roaring sound of a motorcycle off in the distance, heading for a collision with his dog he only got last night. "Daisy!" He shouted more frantically and began to run after her.

Daisy paid no mind to his shouting and continued to wander around the road in a daze of some sort to look around at the big world, but the sound of the bike finally got to close and she looked up with her big, innocent brown eyes as the bike was almost upon her.

Almost though.

The biker didn't break speed but moved off to the side, leaning down and scooping up Daisy in one swift motion and slowed down just as John reached the road. The biker slowed down and drove up slowly beside him.

John sighed when he was handed back his puppy. "Thanks...she just ran out and..." He didn't even know how to explain himself to the silent dog savior who stared back with a reflective visor. His heart though began to speed up when this all to familiar voice caused him to freeze.

"John?" The silent rider spoke, a female with a smooth yet cheerful voice that echoed out with a laugh. "John freakin' Wick!"

John stared into the reflective visor but only saw his own face looking back at him, but there was no mistaking that voice just now. He had heard it, worked with it, had a shouting match with it.

"Mandy?"

She reached for her helmet and pulled it off, shaking out her wild and wavy hair out that stuck to her bottom lip while she smiled widely at him. "10 years! 10 long years and you..." She squinted her eyes to get a better look. "Changed only a little." She said flatly as a joke.

"I guess the same goes for both of us."

Mandy opened her arms out. "What? No hug for your long lost friend?"

Looks like that aspect of her hasn't changed. Always trying to get some sort of physical contact in just to see someone squirm. That person usually being him.

John cracked a smile and started to walked back to his car with Daisy in tow. "No. I don't think I will."

Mandy frowned and rolled her eyes. "You hugged me that one time but whatever." She drove up slowly out of the road. "You probably thought I was dead, huh?"

"To be honest with you. I wasn't sure." John said and put Daisy back in the car. "I didn't know what to think when you suddenly said you were going to leave. I was hoping that you...were going to live."

Mandy shrugged and shut off her bike, a Yamaha Bolt Cruiser. "That's the thing. Neither did I." Her voice lost that cheerful edge. "At first it was...hard to get away but after three years, they just stopped chasing me and I was able to move on."

John paused when she said that. "Did you? Did you move on?" He saw that same shift in her eyes from that night.

Whatever it was that happened that night 10 years ago...she still hasn't gotten over it.

"No," Mandy said flatly. Her eyes then fell on the ring on his finger. "You sure did though. Shit man...You got married?" She finally broke a grin but felt a small sting in her chest that lingered for merely a fraction of a second. "How did you manage to pull that off?" The moment she said that she noticed the air around them change and John looked away, falling silent. Mandy took a breath and a second to understand what it was. "How long has it been since she passed?"

John took in a deep breath but answered her. "Days."

Mandy cursed under her breath since she didn't mean to bring up bad memories. Hell, she was surprised enough that John Wick of all people fell in love enough to want out.

"What was her name?" She asked.

"Helen," John said and gestured to Daisy jumping around in the car happily. "The dog was the last gift from her. Before she passed...she made sure this was left behind."

"Nothing says healing like a puppy." Mandy hopped off her bike to play with the dear little dog in the car. She laughed a bit when it immediately jumped at her face and started to lick her. "How are you holding up? Is she helping?"

John leaned against the car and stuck his hands into his pockets to think of his next words. "I haven't really thought about it much." He looked down and saw Mandy offering her hand. He grabbed it out of reflex and she squeezed it tightly.

"Is one thing I hate more than anything...and that's being alone. You got this babe here...you'll be fine." Mandy hardly ever spoke seriously and usually talks in a casual manner with sarcasm dripping from her voice. But this was different. She held his gaze firmly with her own and made SURE he heard her words. "You hear me?"

John patted her on the shoulder. "Yeah." He didn't lift his hand though and continued to stare into her eyes that were timeless. "I'm glad you're okay, Mandy. You were completely silent these past 10 years so I never knew."

Mandy scoffed a bit and her lips turned up into a smirk. "Well...the world ain't gonna cry for me but at least you will."

"You really think I would cry?"

"I think you would grieve heavily if you ain't gonna cry." She clicked her tongue and winked at him.

John rolled his eyes when both he and Mandy looked up as a black car pulled into the station across from them, blaring this loud and obnoxious music all the way up these roads where silence once held them.

Mandy narrowed her eyes when she saw three gang-looking guys come out. "The hell?"


	3. Everything's Got A Price

**EVERYTHING'S GOT A PRICE**

They blared their music until the car was put in park and they all stepped out talking in a thick Russian voice that made Mandy cock a brow but stay silent.

She shot John a look and noticed that he was trying to pay absolutely no attention to their guests, acting like they didn't even exist. He looked up and made a gesture with his head saying, 'No'. She groaned and shrugged her shoulders, leaning against his car and casually petting Daisy who jumped into her arms while the window was opened.

There was only three of them by the looks of it. One spent the time pumping gas into their black car, another was heading into the station, and the other one looked to be a young man, maybe in his 20's. He had blonde hair pulled up in his hood and obviously was a chain smoker by the cigarette in his mouth. He looked like the kind of guy that was pampered by his parents from the moment he was born too.

This kid's gaze suddenly shifted to John's car and greed started to form in his eyes when he walked over to it.

Mandy dropped Daisy back in the car and shifted away from him and over to John.

"Nice ride." The kid said, pulling his cigarette back between his lips. "Boss 429. She a '70?"

John corrected him and started to wrap up his business here at the gas station. "'69."

The kid nodded his head. "Beautiful car."

"Thanks."

Mandy took a deep breath and nudged John in his side with her elbow. He looked up and saw her offer her hand out. His eyes fell and dread form in the pit of his stomach when Mandy made that signal. He wanted more time to talk to her and see where she's been all these years, but right now was the worse time, and Mandy seemed to have picked up on it.

They both needed to hurry up and leave. Fast.

He took her hand firmly and shook it, never breaking eye contact with her. Mandy brought her other hand up and gently patted John on the cheek, bidding him farewell with a sad smile.

They broke apart and Mandy began to head back to her bike, grabbing the helmet off the hood of his car. Before she could even start her bike up and split, the kid suddenly spoke.

"How much?"

"Excuse me?" John questioned him.

"How much for the car?" The kid gestured to John's car with an irritated voice.

"She's not for sale." He said and quickly got in.

The kid went around to the passenger's side of the car and leaned in, petting Daisy on her head. "Oh, I love dogs." He said and looked John right in his eyes, now speaking in Russian. "_Everything's got a price, bitch._"

John stared right back at him and spoke in a steely voice. "_Not this bitch._"

He saw the kids eyes go wide with fury and he opened his mouth to most likely curse him out maybe or worse when a bike helmet was suddenly thrown in the air, striking the kid in the side of the head and knocking him to the ground.

John looked up swiftly and saw Mandy sitting on her bike at the edge of the station, arm out in a motion that told him that she was the one who threw the helmet. Mandy clicked her tongue at John and made a gesturing move with her thump that told him to, 'Hurry the fuck up and leave'.

The guy from inside the station came out at just the right time when the kid began to curse Mandy out with every dirty name in his small grade Russian dictionary.

"_That fucking bitch! Who the hell does she think she is?_"

Mandy cracked a wicked smile and stuck her middle finger out at the gang members. Before they all could react properly though, she revved up her bike and burned the rubber off her tires peeling out of the station. Mandy disappeared down the highway, the last thing John saw was a middle finger for them, and a single wave for him.

A smile slipped to his lips and he dropped his head to hide his laughter. John wasted no time and pulled out of the station while they were occupied.

* * *

That small encounter with his old best friend made the day seem to drag out longer. His head overflowed with untold questions he never got the chance to ask Mandy.

How did you get away?

Why did you have to leave?

Are you sure you're alright?

What happened on that night 10 years ago?

Too many questions. Not enough time, and a reluctant departure. The day Mandy left, he swore he really was never going to see her again, but this way he met her...because of Daisy, seemed really strange to him. Whatever the reason, he was grateful to know that she was safe in the end.

Still, he wished he had more time with her.

Unlucky enough, the day had already ended and he pulled himself in bed, once again by himself.

John looked over at the blankets on the ground where Daisy was laid on. "All right, come on, then." He gave the orders and Daisy leaped into action, jumping on the bed and rubbing up to his face.

* * *

The night didn't last for long when John was woken up by Daisy barking and springing off the bed.

John sat up in bed and peered up at her. "You need to go?" He spoke in a rough voice that was deprived of sleep.

He pulled himself out of bed and wandered through his dark house and down the stairs. He followed the sound of Daisy's scampering and wining barks. She was whimpering now.

"Daisy?" He called out when everything suddenly became silent. He didn't hear her anymore.

John looked around his dark house but froze at the bottom of the steps when he saw two hooded figures standing in the middle of his living room. They said nothing and stood perfectly still.

**CLONK**

John felt his whole head began to rattle and shake when he was suddenly struck in the back of the head by what sounded like a baseball bat. His body withered in pain when it dropped to the ground like a bag of stones

They turned on the lights and began their assault on him, kicking him in the stomach with their thick boots, knocking his rips with the metal bat, and kicking him in the face until his nose and mouth began to bleed. They laughed and mocked him while John laid on the ground, writhing in throbbing pain that paralyzed him where he was.

"_Where are those fucking car keys?_"

"_That fucking bitch ain't here either._"

Russian. They were speaking in Russian. And there were three of them?

They began to take the bat to his house and shattered everything made of glass while Daisy cried under the furniture before she ran out.

"_Shut that fucking dog up!_"

John could do nothing with his brittle body and watched with his hazy eyes, the men holding Daisy down on the ground and taking a large object and...with one wack and a wimper...she went silent.

They kicked John onto his back while they searched through the house for his car keys.

"_Find the keys?_"

"_Here. I found them._" He heard the sound of jingling keys.

One of the masked men grabbed John by his hair and forced his gaze on him. He pulled off his mask and revealed himself...the kid from the gas station.

"_Sleep tight, bitch._"

They took the large round object up in the air and slammed it down, the world falling into black.

* * *

John woke up from his pain-induced sleep and felt cold yet comfortable hand gently glide across his face and shoulder, shaking him softly.

"John? Hey, wake up. John."

Of course, he recognized that voice and could never mistake it. Not once.

John cracked open his eyes and stared up at amber brown ones that glowed in the warm light. Brown hair fell into his face and tickled his skin.

"Mandy?" He spoke in throbbing pain, his body clenching up with every letter he said.

"Hey, John," Mandy said in a sad-ridden voice. She was kneeling down beside him and was checking if he had any broken bones.

John cracked his head to the side and saw something beside him, right up in his face. It was a blood-covered towel that looked to have something small under it. He reached over to pull on the towel when Mandy grabbed his hand and stopped him.

"Don't. It would be best if you don't look. I'll handle it." She spoke gently and pulled his hand back, feeling him grasp it tightly. "I'll bury her."

John said nothing more and pulled Mandy's hand to his face, covering his eyes.

She sighed deeply and looked to her side, where her bike helmet was laid. She picked it up and saw that one side was covered in blood. Her eyes fell upon the towel that was covered in blood too.

Mandy cringed.

* * *

**STAB**

Mandy stabbed the shovel into the fresh burial mound that was now covered back over with dirt. A small grave for a small dog.

She was just as silent as the morning where not even the birds dared to chirp. She glanced down at John who sat motionless in front of Daisy's grave.

"How did you find this place?" John asked in a monotone voice.

"My helmet...has a tracker in it." She bit down on her lips and leaned against the shovel. "I had a bad feeling about those guys, so that's why I..." Mandy stopped herself and took a breath. "The signal brought me here."

John was quiet before answering her. "Oh..."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**I was on a roll today and decided to post another chapter of this story. I really hope you're enjoying it so far, and don't worry, I will reveal what happened to Mandy on that night 10 years ago.**

**Let me tell you this. I was watching the scene while writing about Daisy's death and...I was so close to crying when they killed her. Man, that still gets to me. **


	4. Baba Yaga and Rose Red

**BABA YAGA AND ROSE RED **

Mandy opened the door to the garage and flipped on the lights. The first thing she noticed was that one of the cars had a baseball bat smashed into the windshield and was left there. The second thing though...was that John's car, the good looking one, was gone.

She sighed deeply and cut off the lights, gently shutting the door behind her.

* * *

John had said only a few words to her the whole time and that was a bit frightening if Mandy didn't personally know this guy and how his mind worked. Anger. That wasn't even remotely close to what was swimming around his head right now. She was sure that the right word hasn't even been invented yet.

'Weareindeepshitrightnow' or 'Weareallgoingtohell'. There. those could be the words the describe the situation perfectly.

John was kneeled down on the ground, scrubbing up the blood from himself and his...newly adopted, dead puppy Daisy. He hung his head in silence and moved his arm back and forth with the brush when Mandy finally came back into the room.

Mandy was the first to speak. "They took your car too, by the looks of it." She said and leaned against the stairs, arms cross and looking a bit grim. "So...what do you wanna do?"

John stopped scrubbing and looked up at her. Rage, anger, and determination all being held back behind a thin wall of glass.

* * *

The New York City bus came to a stop right in town with John and Mandy coming out. They looked over their shoulder and began to head for a car dealer station were men were hard at work, all for one who as waiting for them with two glasses and a bottle of whiskey.

Aurelio's face twisted when he saw Mandy walking beside John. "Ah shit..." he turned around and grabbed an extra glass off the table and set it down beside the other two on the hood of a car. "Long time no see. If it ain't Mandy Rose."

Mandy cracked a grin and shook the man's hand. "Hey, Aurelio. Good to see you." She gave him a pat on the back.

"Not as much as I am to see you. I thought you were dead." He had to admit, seeing Mandy Rose walking around alive and smiling was comforting. He gestured to the seats beside the car before they all sat down.

"Is it here?" John asked.

Aurelio took a moment to fill the glasses up. "It was," he said and saw a dark shift in John's eyes. "Losef Tarasov nicked it."

Mandy's lips stretched out into a line. "Viggo's son." She mumbled.

"Yeah. So what are you gonna do?" He looked between him and Mandy. "Both of you."

* * *

After John and Mandy left, Aurelio was left alone in the shop after hours when the phone began to ring. He knew, he just knew who it was but didn't hesitate to pick it up.

"Aurelio speaking." He answered.

The voice on the other end was none other than Viggo Tarasov himself. "I heard you struck my son."

"Yes sir, I did."

"And may I ask why?"

"Yeah. Well...because he stole John Wick's car and, uh, killed his dog."

Viggo was silent for a long time but the threatening tone in his voice dropped. "Oh."

"And another thing, sir..." Aurelio paused for a moment to think of his next words and how to say them. "And it seems that Mandy Rose is back in town too...she knows."

"...Ah shit." Viggo hung up.

* * *

Viggo felt like the world began to shut down around him after hanging up the phone with Aurelio. He was moving stiffly and didn't hear a word Avi was saying when he was speaking to him.

"Sir?" Avi spoke when he realized that Viggo wasn't paying attention.

"Have you seen my son?" Viggo asked.

* * *

Losef walked in and saw his father, Viggo, and Avi by the bar pouring themselves a drink with crystal glasses.

"How was your trip, kid?" Avi asked.

"We won't be hearing from them anytime soon. Or ever." Losef said proudly

Viggo said nothing and casually walked over to his son and gave him a glass of expensive vodka that burned going down the throat. He grabbed the front of Losef's jacket and looked at it. "That's a nice jacket." He said robotically. "Yeah." Viggo suddenly railed back his arm and punched his son straight in the stomach. Hard. Losef crumbled to the ground and immediately started to vomit up the burning vodka that he only swallowed a moment ago. Viggo tossed a towel at him and spoke in Russian. "_Clean that up._"

"Should I go?" Avi asked, kinda hoping that Viggo would say yes. Viggo then began to speak in Russian to him. "Viggo, English, please."

"Stay, God dammit!" Viggo seethed and took his suit jacket off.

Losef felt his stomach burning and body shake as he tried to clean up his own bodily fluids from off the expensive hardwood floors. "What did I do?" He struggled to get out, much less breathe.

_"You fucked up._" Viggo rolled up his sleeves.

"We did what you asked," Losef spoke through his teeth. "No one saw shit."

Viggo grabbed Losef by his jacket and yanked him to his feet. "I'm not talking about Atlantic City." He said, right up in his face that twisted with anxiety and anger.

"What, then? So I stole a fucking car!" Losef shouted.

Viggo punched his son in the stomach once more and left him there on the ground, quivering in pain.

"Aw, fuck, Viggo!" Avi exclaimed and really just wanted to leave now.

Viggo went back behind the bar, pulled up a bottle and began to pour himself a drink. "It's not what you did, son, that angers me so. It's who you did it too." He said.

"Who? The fucking nobody!" Losef screeched and looked at his father like he was crazy.

"That fucking nobody...is John Wick." Viggo's voice dropped to a chilling undertone that reeked of dread. He took in a deep breath before burning his throat with his drink. "Tell me, son...Did you happen to run into a woman while you were away? She would be about 5'7, brown hair and eyes?"

Losef furrowed his brows. "Yeah? That fucking bitch threw her helmet at me, flipped me off, and drove away before I could put her six feet under."

Viggo scoffed at the accusation despite his obvious trembling now. "So that's why she knows..." He mumbled. "Not only did you run into _him_...but Mandy Rose too."

"Mandy who?" Losef questioned him.

Viggo took a breath. "John Wick...once was an associate of ours. They called him Baba Yaga."

"The Boogeyman?"

"Well, John wasn't exactly the Boogeyman. He was the one you sent to kill the fucking Boogeyman." He spat his venomous words out. "John is...a man of focus, commitment, and sheer will. Something you know very little about. I once saw him kill three men in a bar with a pencil...a fuckin' pencil." He cracked a grin because he found this whole situation insane and enough to laugh at. "But what made it so...detrimental, was when he worked with this woman. His partner. Her name was Mandy Rose, or more commonly known by us as Rose Red. John and Mandy were...nothing alike. They were as opposite as you could get, but for some reason...it's like they shared a single mind and body. When they moved...it was like they moved as one, communicate through eye contact and continue forwards because they knew...the they had each other's back." He took in a deep breath. "10 years ago though, something happened with Mandy and she went ballistic...absolutly fucking insane because of a disagreement we had. After killing at least 20 of my men single handily, she disappeared off the face of the planet and haven't been heard or seen since. Until now"

The color on Losef's face soon began to vanish when he remembers that woman's face.

Viggo continued. "A couple of years after Mandy disappeared, John suddenly asked to leave. It was over a woman, of course. So I gave him an impossible task. A job no one could have pulled off. The...bodies he buried that day laid the foundation of what we are now. And then, my son, a few days after his wife died, you steal his car and kill his dog...on the day Mandy Rose just so happen to be in the same fuckin' area too."

Losef began to understand the sudden tension that rose in the room that was enough to choke on. "Father, I can make this right."

"Oh?"

"By finishing what I started."

Viggo scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Did he hear a fucking word I said?" He looked back to Avi. "Losef! Losef! Listen!" He wrapped his arm around his son that he knew...would be the last time. "John and Mandy will come for you. And you will do nothing, because you can do nothing. So get the fuck out of my sight!" He hissed.

* * *

Viggo opened his safe up that was filled with gold coins, stacked of money, and a journal. He pulled the old journal out and dusted it off. He dialed a number that was writing inside and held the phone up to his ear, waiting as the other end rings for at least a couple seconds. There was a clear clicking noise on the other end but the line remained silent.

"Hello, John," Viggo answered. "I heard about your wife, and I'm sorry. My condolences. It seems to be fate, or happenstance or just bad fucking luck that caused our paths to cross once again." He spoke into the silent call. "John? Let us not resort to our baser instincts and handle this like civilized men, to move on..."

"I thought it was you, Viggo." The voice on the other end made his heart drop to the ground and shatter. It wasn't a males voice...it was a female. The call ended without another word and all Viggo heard now was the loud buzzing sound in his ear.

Viggo clenched his hand tightly and dropped the phone to the table. "Rose Red..." He mumbled as his blood grew cold.


	5. Calm of the Storm

**CALM OF THE STORM**

"Nothing says murder like a nice, new suit," Mandy mumbled sarcastically to herself and walked into John's house after coming back with two suits. One for John which was a simple yet crisp, and the other for herself. Now, Mandy had a preferred style and liked wearing a black suit and shirt, a dark red vest, and durable boots with a 4-inch heel. It's something she always wore she she worked and has gotten used to the style, though she probably needed to find a new one.

Mandy walked upstairs and into John bedroom and saw him loading up two pistols with silencers screwed into the barrel. He looked up and met her gaze but didn't say anything, only making a slight nod of acknowledgment before looking back to the magazines. She threw the plastic-covered suits on the bed before sitting down, staring at him with heavy eyes like she was expecting him to say something.

John noticed what she was doing and looked up. "What is it?" He asked and stopped what he was doing.

Mandy hiked her leg up and on her thigh and leaned forward. "I know what you wanna say, John. You just can't really find the time or the words to actually say it. So just spill it already. You don't want me here," she suddenly blurted out with a raised eyebrow.

10 years wasn't enough for this girl to get rusty. She was still sharp as a tack, John thought and decided to finally say what had been on his mind for a while now. "Mandy...this isn't your problem. You got out and now... it feels like I'm dragging you back into it and I know how much you hated doing this. You don't have to do this for me." He was trying to make his words very honest sounding so she wouldn't catch on to the fact that in reality...he wanted her to stay. Not for back-up, just...for her being there. His partner and best friend. He liked to know that he wasn't alone.

"You got a point," Mandy said. "It's not my problem. No one broke into my house. No one killed my dog, and certainly, no one stole my car. But..." She took in a deep breath and leaned back, pressing her hands against the fabric of the bed. "Doesn't really matter now, does it?"

John shook his head. "You really never listen. Never once and probably won't ever." A gap of silence grew between them. "I'm not going to stop, and if you stay..."

"So you wouldn't do the same for me if I was in your shoes?" Mandy cocked a brow.

"I would." John didn't even think about that question. The answer just flew out of his mouth the moment he heard it. If she was in trouble, he would help, no doubt about it.

"Exactly. I have plenty of reasons to do this. You help me out 10 years ago and stayed quiet when I went off the grid. I owe you that much."

"You don't have to."

"I really don't need your permission. I'm gonna do it anyway. I'm more then ready to walk through hell and fire if it means royally fucking up these guys." Mandy snapped her fingers to grab his attention back to her eyes. "Hey. Listen." She leaned in close. "It may have been a while since we worked together like this but...I'm pretty sure nothing had changed. We're partners in this...so I got your back if you have mine." She offered her hand out.

John took her open hand and grasped it tightly. It didn't shake and it wasn't cold or clammy. Mandy wasn't scared nor was she hesitating. She was ready to do this, but more so for him.

John smiled a bit and looked away. "Just like old times."

Many smirked. "Yeah. But this time I'm really gonna enjoy it."

* * *

The night closed in on them fast, just as much as the intruders surrounded the house was. They were armed with guns, masks on their faces and suits with bulletproof vests too. They all infiltrated the dark house where everything was quiet, not once hearing a squeaky floorboard. The whole house was silent enough to question if anyone was even home, when in reality...they were being stocked in the shadows.

John emerged from the dark and pulled down one of the guns from the intruders for Mandy to come up behind him and put a round in his head. John swung the body around and shot two other guys behind them until there was no one left around. He made a signal to Mandy, say that he'll head downstairs first and for her to take a long way around and come up behind the assassins. She gave a nod before suddenly directing her gun to the bottom of the stairs and shot at a guy who was trying to sneak up behind them. Mandy sent her partner off with a two-fingered salute and a cocky grin before disappearing behind the dark corners of his home.

John took the chance to drop down to the first floor of his house and began to make a sweep through the shadowy halls. Shooting anything that moves before Mandy got down there. The house lit up with flashes of light along with the distinct sound of bodies dropping one after another. John made a pause at the corner of the hall and quickly reloaded his weapon. He took a second before leaping out from cover and pounding his hands down on the arms of an unaware assassin and began to wrestle his weapon out of his hand. John kneeled him in the gut and flipped him over his shoulder, placing a bullet in his head before he could get up. A loud gunshot made him jump through with shock but all he heard was the sound of another body dropping behind him. John turned around and saw Mandy standing upon a fallen corpse with the barrel of her gun smoking. She walked up to John and gave him a reassuring pat on the back before heading off deeper into the house and closer to the kitchen.

Mandy suddenly felt the air get knocked out of her when an intruder came out of nowhere and pinned her against the wall. She locked her arms around his neck and kneed him in the gut a couple of times until she felt his grip on her waist loosen.

John tried to get the assassin off his partner but his own gun suddenly knocked out of his hand when a hidden killer who came around the corner and started to attack him fiercely. The man tried to make a pass for the gun but John kicked it out of his reach. John's arms tangled around the man when he suddenly grabbed a giant kitchen knife and tried to stab him.

Mandy somehow managed to kick the guy off her and push him on the counter. She raised her arms up and struck down hard against his neck, hearing a loud snap, crackle, pop sound coming from the bones in his throat.

Back in the corridor, John wrestled on top of the man and against the knife. He placed his whole body weight against the blade and slammed the palm of his hand against the handle a few times to stab him. Mandy literally skidded around the corner and spotted John on top of the guy with a knife in his hand. She didn't say anything but noticed his urgent eyes burning into her. Mandy didn't think and ran down the hall. She lifted her leg up above the knife and thrust the blade into the man at long last, ending his life and the fight all at the same time.

Mandy didn't even notice this whole time that her body was shaking and was covered in splattered blood. The adrenaline rush was beginning the wear off now so she had to sit down beside the deceased man that still had a knife in his chest.

"You alright?" John patted her shoulder but they both stiffened when the doorbell went off with obvious police lights coming from outside.

"Get the door. It's your house." Mandy said and crossed her legs and made no effort to get out of view from the door.

John casually went over to the door and slowly opened it up with a gun still in his hand. He recognized the cop on the other side and opened it fully.

"Evening, John. The police officer said.

"Evening, Jimmy," John said back just as politely. "Noise complaint?" He figured.

Jimmy nodded. "Noise complaint." He tilted his head and saw inside. Mandy was still sitting on the ground next to a dead body.

Mandy looked up and gave a casual wave. "Sorry about the noise."

Jimmy nodded very slowly and looked back to John. "Is she your..." He didn't finish his sentence and wanted John to correct what he was going to say.

"She's an old friend coming to visit," John said.

The cop gave a slow nod and took off his hat. "You, uh...working again?"

John just stared at him. "No. Mandy and I are just sorting some stuff out."

"Oh, uh...I'll leave you be then." The cop gave a nod towards Mandy and began to head back to his car. "Goodnight, John."

"Goodnight, Jimmy," John called back and closed the door. He looked back to Mandy.

"He seems nice." She shrugs.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Hello ladies and sirs. Look at me, now look at this chapter, now back to me.**

**Old spice reference, I know. It's 10:00 right now where I'm at and I get weird when I'm tired. I do hope you like that action scene that was written by my sleep-deprived mind.**


	6. Stranger to Mandy

**STRANGER TO MANDY**

"You're definitely more prepared than me." Mandy said while shuffling 12 golden coins between the palms of her hand. "I didn't give a second thought of what I left behind all those years ago... I'm glad you kept these things though when you retired." She winced when she felt a throbbing pain coming from the left side of her face that was bruised a deep purple and cruel red. The inside of her mouth even tasted of iron.

John got off the phone after making a 'Dinner Reservation' for 12. He glanced over to Mandy as she chugged down a cup of water with pain-killers. Bruises lined her knuckles and blood dripping from her cracked lips. He felt a pang of guilt lurch forth from his chest because he didn't want her to get involved in the first place, despite Mandy herself saying it was alright. It still ate away at him and it showed clearly on his face.

Mandy cocked an eyebrow at him. She took in a deep breath of air and it burned her lungs since her ribs were pretty badly bruised too. "You really need to stop looking at me like that."

"Looking at you like what?"

"Looking at me with the face of a guilty man who can do nothing but blame himself," she said sharply and irritation leaking from her voice. "Besides...you're not looking so hot yourself." Mandy clicked her tongue and winked at him. A smile stretched to her cracked lips and she got up off the chair. "You've gotten rusty, Baba Yaga," she began to head upstairs where the dead bodies still laid fresh.

John let a smile slip. He followed her up to mee the 'Clean up' crew at the door. "You say that but you still look worse than me."

Mandy rolled her eyes and stopped midway up the stairs. She snapped her fingers and pointed down at him. "Which reminds me. There's something I need to do before they and Charlie get here...so give them my regards, okay?"

John raised a brow at the sudden change. "Where are you going?"

"Nowhere special." Mandy casually shrugged her shoulders. " Just gonna meet a stranger."

* * *

There were rifles and pistol pieces scattered across Marcus's desk that he worked on cleaning and putting back together again. It looked like he was getting ready for a job with the sheer focus and relaxed look in his eyes. Yet, something was amiss and he appeared to be a bit reluctant when putting the scope back on his rifle and sighting it in. His lips curled inwards and he bit down on them, sighing and dropping the act. He set his weapon back on the table and ran his hands through his hair. Marcus scoffed, wonder _now_ of all times why he was feeling reluctant.

The sound of the doorbell caught him off guard and he literally jumped when the bell rang through his ears. He instinctively reached for his loaded and ready gun and peered off towards the front door. He slowly got up to his feet but walked calmly over and opened it. His eyes went wide but that was the only difference in his calm and composed face. "Mandy." he saw the smiling woman on the other side of the door with her hands deep in her pockets. "It's been a long time."

Mandy was in a different outfit that didn't compose of her vest and suit. Just a simple loose-fitting gray jacket, black shirt, and dark blue jeans. Her face was relaxed and was slightly turned up into a cocky smirk. "Sure has. 10 long years, actually." her eyes fell to his right hand that was still holding the gun behind his back. "So, why don't we act like civilized adults and put the guns away, huh?"

He sighed and revealed the gun to her before gently placing it on the table beside the door. "If I didn't know any better, I would think you'd have X-ray vision," he said.

Mandy scoffed a bit and she lifted her brow in confusion. "From one hitman to another, man. Cause it's suspicious as hell to hide something behind your back when answering the door." she did have a point since she does the same exact thing.

Marcus smirked. "The things I taught you really did stick, huh?" he saw a shift in her eyes when he said that.

Mandy's voice dropped that playful tone. "And I still hate you for that."

He sighed. "I didn't do anything." he stepped aside for Mandy to step in. "You were already a prodigy when I first met you, all I did was polish your skills."

"Hmm, craps skills if you ask me." A storm of mixed emotions across her eyes, to fast to make out what exactly they were. "The only thing I was ever good at in life, and look where that got me. 10 years being MIA." she let out a deep and exhausted sigh.

Of course, Marcus knew what happened 10 years ago and why she had to leave. To Mandy, it probably still felt fresh in her mind. Like it only happened yesterday and not a decade ago. "Mandy, what happened that day...it was not your fault-" he tried to speak but was cut off harshly by her sharp voice.

"Don't give me that bullshit, Marcus." she actually hissed at him, venom searing from her voice and hatred pouring from her veins. "Don't try to make me feel better when it was my fault. He..." shock crossed her eyes and she sucked in a deep shaking breath to stop herself from speaking anymore. "That's...not what I'm here for. I wanna know if Viggo offered you a contract." She composed herself rather quickly after she got down to the reason why she was here.

Marcus hesitated at first and pondered for only a second if telling the truth would be the best thing. "What would you do...if I told you he did?" he searched for an answer in her emotional eyes but they hardened up like a mask and Mandy's playful tone returned.

"Nothing. I'm just curious if you took it or not." she shrugged and waited for an answer but Marcus stayed quiet. Mandy was taken back at first and a disturbing look crossed her face for a second before it hardened up. "Personal feelings aside, huh? A jobs a job." she bit down on her lips. "How much?"

"2 million," Marcus answered. "Each."

She sighed in defeat and her voice sounded softer than usual now. "Is that so?" She took a seat in a chair.

"Is that really all you came here for?" Marcus took a seat across from her. "Just to ask me one question? I'm sure you still have my number."

"Yep," a small laugh escaped. "but I thought I should make a house call, guessing I might've scared you when I dropped off the face of the planet." Her smirk fell back on her red painted lips.

"I wouldn't say that." he shrugged. "Concerned, yes. Scared, no. You have a nack for...getting out of things alive."

"Yeah...I guess I just have a shit-ton of luck. To be honest with you," her lips thinned out. "I don't remember much of what happened after...you know. All I can really recall is grabbing my gun and pulling the trigger like...a million times."

A long silence fell between them that tugged on Marcus reluctance even more. Staring at Mandy like this really brought back a lot of memories because this is how she looked when she would often come and visit him. "I wish things were different. I really do, Mandy. I recall...you coming over and venting about everything." He laughed fondly.

"Simpler times..." she looked up at him and smiled brightly. "It's good to see you again, Marcus."

Marcus reached over and outstretched his hand for her to shake. "I'll be seeing you, Mandy Rose."

Mandy grasped it and squeeze tightly. She felt her lips began to quiver so she got up fast and broke away. Her hearts throbbed with every second and she fought with the urge to stay and vent about everything that happened to her through these last 10 years, but she was overstepping her boundaries this way by just being here, next to a man who was out for her life because of a job. Still...it was good to hear his voice again and it set Mandy's heart at ease if only a little.

* * *

John waited at the front steps of the Continental hotel in Manhatten where he and Mandy were supposed to meet up. He looked to the left and saw her motorcycle pulling up to the front of the Hotel. She took her helmet off and shut off her bike.

"You done?" John asked but all he got was a dejected flicker across her eyes. "Mandy?"

Mandy chewed the inside of her lips and gestured her head inside to the door. "Come on."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Hey, it's been a while. Sorry that I didn't update for a while but I just had some many other stories to update. Nevertheless, at least it's posted. It's funny, slowly over time, I've noticed more and more people taking a liking to this story and it just tickles me pink. Thank you so much!**

**Anyway. I'm kinda making this up as I go along. I have an end goal and I know what I'm gonna do it and how it's gonna end, but everything else...well...We'll just have to see. I'm gonna try to tap into Mandy's character and her inner struggles of what she really thinks of her job, of John and what made her leave it all behind all those years ago. **

**I really got to plan this story out more because I generally just wanna do right by Mandy. I'm gonna have to take the time, watch the movie again and take notes and write a more professional bio for her. So I think it's gonna be a while until I post the next chapter. **

**That's all I gotta say for now. So until then, take real good care of yourselves. **


	7. Light Seizure

**LIGHT SEIZURE**

Mandy was hit with a great deal of nostalgia once she stepped into the Continental Hotel after all these years. It was a very posh and upscale place that has quite the variety of people stepping in and out, so no one really paid any mind to her and John when they made their way up to the counter.

Mandy slung her single duffle bag over her shoulder when this thought crossed her mind. "Did you really make the reservation?" she asked.

John shook his head. "Yeah." He looked at her from the corner of his eye. "When did I ever forget to make the reservation?"

"January 15, 2002," she named right off the top of her head with no hesitation at all in her voice.

He frowned to recall the memories of long ago. "That was not my fault. _You_ said you were going to make the reservation."

Mandy's eyebrows squinched together in utter confusion. "I didn't say that," she protested. "Not only have you've gotten a little rusty but so has your memory apparently." She huffed to herself and they walked up to the front desk.

The concierge looked up and smiled at them, very polite. "Hello, sir, ma'am. How may I help you today?"

"I called ahead," John said. "Reservation for John Wick." He smiled a bit when he saw Mandy roll her eyes after being proven wrong.

The concierge took about a minute to check his computer. "Ah, yes. I have you two for two nights."

"Depends really." Mandy shrugged since it was all still up in the air. "It may be more."

"That's not a problem, ma'am. We're only at sixty percent capacity," he assured them both. "Just let me know should you choose to extend your stay."

John slowly nodded his head and took a moment to look around. "Y'know, I haven't been here in years, Mandy even longer. When did the old place get a facelift?"

"About four years ago," he said.

Mandy bit the inside of her cheek. "Same owner?"

"Same owner."

There was a look of relief across Mandy's face along with a deep sigh escaping from her lips. "Which reminds me." she began, sliding a golden coin across the table. "Is she still singing?"

The concierge, very subtly, slid the gold coin under the table. He didn't even as much blink. "She is. Daily, in fact. Around midnight."

"That sounds good." Mandy gave John a quick nudge.

The concierge handed John the key. "Floor seven, room nine. Will there be anything else then, sir?"

John picked up his things to leave and quickly tossed the room key to Mandy when she walked past him. "No. It's fine," he said and followed after his partner.

* * *

They ascended down to the lower levels of the Continental Hotel where it was mostly filled with staff members, but one door, in particular, was strange and had a small slit in the side that was just big enough for a golden coin to slip through.

John stopped in front of the door and gave a glance to Mandy beside him. "Are you sure you want to go too? If you're uncomfortable then you can go back up to the room and wait." Mandy bit down on her lips and avoided eye contact with him for a moment. "Mandy-" he began but was cut off suddenly.

"I'm fine!" she said a bit to harshly then she would have liked. "No, I'm just fine, really. We're lucky though that Winston's still the owner. He's a bit more forgiving than anyone else." she said, still avoiding eye contact with him.

He gave her a sympathetic and worried look. "I just want to be sure."

Mandy nodded her head. "Thanks, John. But... I'm gonna be fine. After all, I've got you with me so what's gonna happen?" She lifted her head and cracked a confident smirk.

John laughed a bit. "If you say so." He patted her on the shoulder before shoving the coin into the slot.

The slide on the entrance opened up and someone looked through. It slammed shut and the door slowly creaked open. The inside was like an old-style bar with live music and people drinking and smoking. The air was so hazy with cigarette smoke that it was hard to see at first once you stepped in. Mandy did everything in her power to not go straight to the bar and drink her worries away and stayed behind John the whole time. They walked over to a corner table to where the owner was sat at. If Mandy didn't know better, she would believe that he hasn't moved at all since the last time she saw him 10 years ago. He certainly hasn't changed much either, aside from aging a bit.

"Hello, Winston." John greeted his old-time friend.

Winston looked up, his reading glasses hung low on his thin nose. He smiled when he saw them. "Johnathan. Mandy," he said with a voice smoothed over with age. "I'm certainly glad to see you're still alive, Ms. Rose."

Mandy smiled weakly. "Got lucky I guess." She and John took a seat across from him.

"You always were." He then noticed the obvious bruising on John's face. "Now, as I recall, weren't you the one tasked to dole out the beatings, not receive them?" he joked.

"Mandy says I'm just rusty."

"She looks to be right about that." Winston folded his arms across his chest. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Losef Tarasov." John began.

"What about him?"

"I'd like to talk with him?"

Winston eyed them both and sipped on his drink. "A talk, you say. I'm familiar with the parlance, Jonathan. I want to ask you this. Have you and Mandy returned to the fold?" He stared at them with intense eyes.

John saw Mandy stiffen beside him at the heavy question, it being a sensitive topic for her. "Just visiting," he said.

"Have you thought this through? I mean, chewed down to the bone? You got out once, both of you. You dip so much as a pinky back into this pond, you may well find something reaches out and drags you back into it's depths." he said ominously. "If you'ore willing to break the rules of Continental, double the bounty. You know the rules. No business can be conducted on these premises lest incurring heavy penalties." He slipped his glasses back on his face. "Have a drink and relax. For now."

Mandy curled her finger up into a first and sighed heavily. "John, why don't you go get yourself a drink," she said, an obvious ploy for him to give Winston and her time alone.

John hesitated for a bit but complied. "Sure." He got up and walked over to the bar, leaving Mandy alone to talk.

Winston didn't even look up from the papers he was writing. "I heard what happened 10 years ago. You have my condolences," he said. "Which is why I'm surprised you're doing this."

"John would've done the same for me. But this isn't about what happened back then. With Losef Tarasov...it's personal." Her voice was grim and Winston saw something begin to storm in her amber eyes.

"Everything's personal with you. Look, I don't agree with how you left but I'm willing to look past it and let it go. This is my one final warning with you, Mandy. If Johnathan falls back into the depths of this...life, then surely so will you."

A weak sigh escaped her lips. "What more can I lose?" Mandy never broke eye contact with him. She spoke with an exhausted voice like she hasn't slept a day for the past 10 years she's been gone. There were obvious bags around her eyes and her fingers were twitching too.

Winston felt like he was staring at the shell of Mandy's former self. He can tell now that her sarcasm was a facade of some kind, a very weak mask that was holding something together. He was beginning to think that this wasn't only personal for John...it might be for her too. "Don't say I didn't warn you," he said and slipped her a piece of paper.

Mandy smiled and dropped her head. "Thank you, Winston."

He saluted his drink to her and watched as she and John left.

* * *

Darkness swept over the town and the Red Circle was bubbling with partygoers. John and Mandy stood at the opposite side of the street and watched a black car pulled up to the building but didn't take the front entrance, but a secret side one that had one bouncer stationed.

"That's it?" John asked.

Mandy nodded her head and looked down at the paper Winston gave her. "It's what Winston wrote down, so yeah." She folded it up and stuffed it into her inside pocket.

John made a gesture with his head and she nodded. They moved separately across the street and slowly surrounded the building.

* * *

Victor came out of the bathhouse, now dressed in a stark white robe that glowed with the fluorescent lights that gave the club a futuristic charm. He fumbled through his bag of toiletries while humming to himself, the sound of the door opening and closing catching his attention but saw no one when he looked up. Back to the matter at hand. Success! He found his floss and started to wiggle it between his teeth. He flashed the mirror a smile and began to wash his mouth out with tap water, unaware of the silent murder happening behind him.

Mandy quietly snuck up behind one of the unaware guard's and swiftly locked her arms around his neck in a headlock. She clapped her hand over his mouth so he wouldn't cry for help while John came up and drove a knife right into his neck to kill and silence him for good. They broke apart quickly and disappeared into the blackness once more when Victor lifted his head, turning around just in time to see the guard's body slowly crumble to the ground, smearing blood all over the lockers behind him. Alarmed by what had just happened, he turned around to flee but was only received with a hard punch to the nose by John. The force and confusion of it all knocked him to the ground.

Mandy, calm as ever with a slight smirk on her face, walked up behind Victor and kneeled down beside him. "Where's Losef?" she said in a monotone voice that was casual and steady.

Victor spat out the blood that dripped from his nose into his mouth. "Fuck you, fucking bitch!" He made a swing at her but she moved her head to the side and locked his arm up, slamming his head down into the counter. Victor wailed in pain as blood began to pour from the gash in his forehead.

John took Victor's towel and wrapped it tightly around his neck to choke him into submission. "Where's Losef?" he demanded.

He finally gave him and choked out his answer with blood pouring from his nose and forehead. "Bathhouse...downstairs!"

John's own hands were beginning to turn white and started to shake with how much force he was using to choke Victor. "_You stole my car._" He slammed the man's head against the sink. "_And you killed my dog._" He pushed Victor's head under the sink that was filled with water and held him there to drown.

"_Fuck you,_" Victor uttered his last words before his neck made a loud crunching sound and he ceased to move.

Mandy stepped over his body and reached for Victor's phone that was laying on the counter. She looked up at John and made a gesturing motion with her head towards the door leading into the bathhouse. She braced herself for a night full of fluorescent and flashing light with low and alluring music that made you want to sink into its ecstasy.

The bathhouse smelled of soap mixed with fine wine. The dim glow of cold blue and flashing red provided great cover for Mandy and John to walk around in but, of course, guards lined ever corner there was. John made a movement with his hand that signaled for Mandy to go right while he stayed left.

* * *

"Have they showed up yet?" The head of security looked at the CCTV screens that lined the inside of the Red Circle.

"No, nothing."

They stood still and waited in silence with anxiety starting to bubble up in their chests. They knew that it was only a matter of time before Baga Yaga and Rose Red showed up to put Losef down like a dog without the slightest bit of hesitation or remorse for the poor and clueless kid.

* * *

A body flung up against the glass-paned wall and spread blood all over when the body crumbled to the floor. Rose Red calmly strolled around the glass corner with a dripping knife in her hand and a steely and mischievous look in her amber eyes. They glowed in the cold blue lights and gave her this dreadful appearance of a demon that came out for a little fun tonight. All was good so far and it seemed like they haven't suspected her and John's infiltration yet. They didn't have cameras all over the place but filled their blind spots with men to keep an eye on Losef.

Mandy crept over to the two-way towel rack and peered through the holes to see if she could see Losef. Surprisingly, she could easily pick him out in the pool crowd and was sure it was him. He was laying in the bath surrounded by women and with wine up to his chest, almost totally sloshed by this point. "Kid really doesn't have any sense of security..." Mandy mumbled. She looked over her shoulder just in time to see a guard walk around the corner and honed his eyes on her. "You guys do though."

The man tried to make a pull for his sidearm but Mandy was faster than him. She pulled her knife up and chucked it across the room and pierced his hand that stopped him still. He screeched loud enough though and informed everyone of the trouble, including John. The guy dove down low and tackled Mandy right through the towel rack and into the open where everyone could see them.

* * *

The guards looking at the CCTV cams caught Mandy on film while she wrestled with the security and locked him in place with an armbar.

"They're here!" He cocked his gun and prepared to go out to the bathhouse to get Losef out of there.

* * *

"Mandy?" John called and ran out of the hall and saw Mandy wrapped up in the security guard, wrestling to keep each other on the ground and was gradually being surrounded by other personnel. John pulled his pistol out and squeezed the trigger, illuminating the room in multiple white flashes, unloading a few rounds into the guards. He pointed the barrel at the one Mandy had and shot him down to free his partner.

Losef snapped out of his woozy and intoxicated state when the bright flashes of light discombobulated him for a second. He grabbed his towel and the gun laying underneath it and looked up, finally meeting John's gaze. Baba Yaga's eyes turned cold when they locked on to the kid who stood still with paralyzing fear coursing through his veins. All of a sudden the warm water felt like an ice bath to him because the shaking just would not stop.

The kid stiffened when Mandy got up and snapped her golden eyes towards him. She made a step towards him when this behemoth of a man rose up from the pool like Godzilla from the ocean and tried to grab at her. John ran up behind his partner and wrestled with his arms long enough for Mandy to slam her heel down on the man's foot so he'd step back. She pulled out her gun and loaded one round in his gut and another in his head. His large body flopped back into the water.

Turning back towards the kid, John saw Losef try and make a break for the exit and fired at him. The Bullets struck the glass panes and missed him about an inch before he ran for cover behind a sturdy stone wall. The shooting became more frequent and the loud ringing in their ears made every shot sound hollow in the tight quarters. John and Mandy were forced to drop for cover on opposite sides of the bathhouse and were caught between a shootout with Losef escaping to the main club room.

Mandy jumped when a bullet punctured the wall right beside her and chiseled the stone away on impact. "Holy shit!" She lifted her head and saw Losef run up the stairs. "He's making a run upstairs!" she roared to John over the intense gunfire.

"Mandy?" John called out since he couldn't see her from where he was hiding. "Get up there!"

Mandy got up behind her cover and shot a guard nearest to the exit, giving herself the chance to run up the stairs while John took care of the men still in the bathhouse.

* * *

Losef ran out of the bathhouse and into the crowded dancefloor that was made up of flashing neon lights and intense claustrophobia. All the faces looked the same to him and the music was upsetting his stomach. He shoved everyone aside and continuously looked over his shoulder in search of Rose Red while flashing his gun sideways at every person that startled him.

Mandy ran out into the main club room and easily noticed the petrified boy fumbling his way through the crowded mess of oblivious people. She scoffed and began to calmly walk down the stairs and through the mess with her pistol leaning against her shoulder and a sly grin on her face.

Losef could just feel the dread of death building up behind him. He suddenly shoved his men into the crowd after the lady who was almost upon him, reaching her arm out like a grim reaper ready to collect. Mandy stopped in the middle of the crowd. She backed up to submerge herself with the people and seemingly disappeared before everyone's eyes. The security prowled through the crowd and scanned every face before abruptly walking right into John Wick and the barrel of his pistol that unloaded heavy led into the men. He raised his weapon, ready to shoot down the other guys when unknown gunshots came out from the crowd and dropped them all in a split second. John looked to his left side as people ran passed him, seeing Mandy reappear beside him in seconds.

John gave Mandy a gesture with his head to see if she was alright. After a tip of her head, she made a motion with her hand and pointed to Losef baling up the stairs like his ass was on fire. They hurried their pace and rushed up after him

Losef ran past everyone in a mad dash for safety. "Move! Move! They're here!" He ran into the head of security. His face was as white as a sheet and it looked like he had just seen a ghost. "They're fucking here! They're coming!" He sputtered out his words and ran out to leave the security to deal with Wick and Rose.

John and Mandy burst into the next room with their guns raised, firing with bright white lights flashing from the barrels. Their backs pressed up against each other, shooting at the endless security agents that blocked their way and held them up for Losef to escape. Bodies fell, blood splattered on the walls and smoking bullet casings dispersed across the floor every time the slide on their gun pulled back.

Mandy heard the 'clicking' noise of an empty magazine behind her and without looking, she tossed John one of her spare mags and moved ahead while he quickly reloaded. Through the next slot of doors, she grabbed the first guard in front of her and used the momentum to swing her legs up and kick the guy behind him. She locked her arm around the guy's neck and quickly pressed the barrel to his head and put a single round through his temple. He collapsed pretty quickly after that. Mandy rose up from the ground, pointing her pistol and 'click', went her gun. An empty magazine. She frowned and releases the smoking mag to the floor and began to reload. Stepping off to the side, John hurried through the door behind her and fires at the men in front while she was occupied.

The next room was the lounge area right above the dance floor. Mandy's eyes honed on Losef in seconds and saw him making a break for the exit. He was almost out of the club. She hurried ahead after the kid when she suddenly felt a hard push on her chest and was sent sliding back against the floor. She gasped from the impact and looks up, seeing the head of security walking over to her, cocking his weapon. Her eyes went wide and he fired three rounds into her bulletproof vest. She felt pain quivering all over her body and quickly hurried behind a pillar out of sight. Mandy felt the severe bruising all over her body she got from the nasty slugs but after a quick check, she learned that they didn't pierce through the material, though it still hurt like a son of a bitch.

Mandy looked up in a desperate attempt for help but saw John still tangled up with a group of security personnel, and she was out of magazines as well so her chances weren't looking great right now. She waited in silence for the guard to get close enough before she jumped out and locked her arm around him. The guy was considerably stronger than her and she was at a disadvantage because of the distracting pain. Mandy tried to wrestle the gun out of his hand but it unfortunately slipped and fell down to the lower level of the club. He grabbed a bottle from off the table and smashed it against her head. She closed her eyes tightly to stop the fragments from falling into her eyes when the side of her body suddenly felt like it was set on fire when glass fragments being driven right through her soft skin. Mandy pushed him away forcefully and looked down to see her whole left side being drenched in blood. Taking the chance in Rose Red's dismay, the security agent hiked his leg up and kicked her square in the chest. Mandy felt her body tipping over the rail, falling straight down to the lower level. Her body slammed hard against the ground as all the adrenaline faded away and was replaced with electrocuting pain.

John stopped what he was doing when he heard the loud crunching noise of Mandy's body falling from the upper level. His eyes immediately fell on her. "Mandy?" he called out but she didn't respond and was only moaning on the floor, gasping for the air that was knocked out of her system. He looked back to Losef and saw the kid finally make it outside. He fought the urge to carry out with his plan and finally get the revenge he was so longing for, but it felt like something was pulling on his body that kept him in place. He snapped his head back to Mandy and then towards the door, only taking a single second to make up his mind and rushing downstairs to check on his partner.

"Goddamn..." Mandy rolled onto her back and clutched the open wound at her side, feeling all the hot blood leave her system and turning her body cold. She whimpered and turned her head to the side just as John got to her.

"Hey! Hey, hey," he said and began to inspect her injury. All he saw was red spilling out from the deep wound. It was worse than he thought. "I gotta get you out of here," he muttered and quickly looked around to make sure no one else was left. He picked Mandy up and wrapped her arm around his shoulder and started to carry her out of the Red Circle.

* * *

Back in the safety of his car, Losef dialed on his phone and held it up to his ear. "_Victor, where the fuck are you?_"

"You little fuck," Mandy growling voice chilled him to the bone when it answered. "You have a hell of a lot of luck but that ran dry tonight. We'll be seeing you."

Once Rose Red hung up, a cold and intense pit formed in his stomach that forced him to throw up.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**This is actually the second time uploading this chapter. The other day, I had my mind dead set on updating it no matter what. I had work that night (Night shift) so my time was limited with editing it. I decided 'screw it' and posted it anyways before bringing my head to my pillow and falling asleep, promising myself to finish editing it the next day. I didn't have much left, just trying to polish up the fight scene and that was it. **

**And thank you so much for your reviews! They never fail to bring a smile to my face. I'm so glad you're enjoying Mandy's story so far and I hope you stick around to see how it ends!**


	8. My Best Friend

**MY BEST FRIEND**

Time slowed down, well, it felt like that. Mandy was still awake, despite the blood loss, but everything looked to be as if it was moving in slow motion for her. Voices around her seemed slurred but the constant ticking clocks were very loud in her ears...or maybe it was her own heartbeat thumping away a mile per minute. She honestly didn't know, she was so delirious. Mandy also found this odd sense of comfort that managed to keep her conscious through the whole trip back to the Continental, the smell of musk and gunsmoke. John was carrying her on his back so she knew where the smell came from, she knew it quite well too. She remembered in the past having to be carried back like this a couple of times, so it was a familiar feeling to her that brought her relief. But inside the depths of her mind...a sensation of loneliness lingered for some reason.

John felt Mandy slump down and rested her head against his back. "Mandy?" he called out, a bit concerned.

"I'm still alive," she answered back weakly.

He nodded his head and walked through the halls of the Continental and up to the front desk. It was there that the concierge looked up, seeing a bruised and beaten John and a semi-unconscious Mandy on his back. She peeked up at him with her hazy and sleepy brown eyes, sporting a small smile.

The concierge greeted them very calmly. "Good evening, Mr. Wick, Ms. Rose."

"Good evening." John's whole body was quivering with pain since the adrenaline already wore off.

"How may I be of service?" he asked, as polite as ever.

"Is the doctor in?" John asked.

The concierge nodded. "Yes, sir. 24/7."

"Then send him up, please."

"Yes, sir."

John looked like he was going to leave when a thought crossed his mind and he stopped. "How good is your laundry?"

Mandy chuckled under her breath.

The concierge looked conflicted while glancing down at the state their clothes were in. Tattered and covered in blood. "I'm sorry to say that no one's that good," he, unfortunately, said to them.

John shrugged. "No. I thought not."

"May I suggest a drink, sir. Bourbon, perhaps." he offered another choice.

John pondered on it for a while but decided to change his mind. "Do you have Gray Goose Vodka?" he asked.

"We do." he nodded, glancing at Mandy laying limp on John's back. "Is it for the lady?"

"Yes. It's her, uh...favorite drink."

* * *

Mandy pressed her back hard against the bed while John was sat on the other side, keeping a firm hand on her shoulder so she wouldn't move around so much. It felt like her body was on fire and she couldn't help but squirm under the needle as the doctor stitched her wound closed.

"Ow!" Mandy bit down on her lips and balled her hands up into tight fists.

"Just hold still," the doctor said while treading the needle through her skin once more, just about finishing up. "I'm almost done."

Mandy draped her arm over her glassy eyes and groaned with deeply buried pain in her voice. She stretched her hand out and John grabbed it tightly.

John held onto her hand but it felt like she was going to rip it off, she was holding it so tightly. "Is she going to be alright?" he asked, bearing through the intense pain his hand was going through right now.

"She'll live." the doctor cut the string off and tied it up. "Things never change between you two. 10 years later and this girl is still foolishly reckless. I recall plenty of times you had to carry Mandy in on your back."

Mandy wasn't going to protest against that remark since she had the scars to prove it. This incident is only going to add to them too. "I know, I know. I'm sorry."

"So what sort of movement is she looking at?" John asked.

"Well, if she's looking to heal, then keep it marginal. However, if you both still have...business to attend to." He reached over the table and grabbed a small container of pills. "Take two of these beforehand," he said and handed them over to Mandy.

She held the container up and shook the pills around under the light. "Sweet. Thanks." She set it down on the table and reached for the bottle of Gray Goose Vodka that was already half empty. She lost count of how many times she poured herself a drink. She was pretty sure it was the 6th time already.

"Don't thank me just yet." he gave her a grim warning. "Your stitches will tear and you'll bleed, but you'll have full function."

"That's all I need." Mandy winked and leaned her head back, chugging down another glass of burning rich vodka.

"Do you need anything for the pain?" he aked

"No," Mandy shook her head and gestured to her empty glass. "I've got that covered."

* * *

After examining the stitches, Mandy pulled her shirt down and gently adjusted herself in bed to get comfortable. She pulled the covers over her body and watched John escort the doctor out of the room after cleaning up.

John closed the door and made sure to lock it afterwards. He turned back around, only to see Mandy's eyes firmly on him. "What is it?" he said and pulled up a chair and sat in front of her.

"Go ahead, tell me I'm stupid." she sighed and sank her head deeper into her pillow

"I'm not going to do that." John shook his head and laid his hand on top of her head. "It's always been like this. I clear the back and you go ahead. This time though...I didn't realize you were in trouble until it was too late." he said somberly. Mandy clearly saw the regret in his eyes.

"We haven't worked together in 10 years, John." She reached her hand up and patted his face in a childish attempt to smack the gloom right off him. "We're just out of sync. That's all."

John smiled and moved his head away when Mandy tried to smack him again. "I guess it'll take some time to get used to it again."

Mandy smiled and felt her consciousness slowly drift away under his hand that ran through her hair. She closed her eyes and fell into this comforting trance that came from the warmth and ruggedness of his hand. It all ended too soon though when her heart abruptly became cold for some reason, her eyes snapping wide open. She reached for his hand and gently pulled it off but held on tightly, looking him dead in the eyes. "You know you're my best friend, right?" Her voice was bitter, choking on her own words that felt poisonous to her.

John furrowed his eyebrows at her strange behavior. "Yeah," he said and felt his hand being released from hers. Looking up at the clock, he only realized just how much time had passed. "You want me to go and get you something to eat?" he asked, hoping to change the subject and bring Mandy back to her usual sarcastic and childish self.

"If it ain't to much trouble." Even Mandy had to admit that she was pretty hungry.

"No, shouldn't be." John got up from the chair and pulled his blazer back on. "Do you still like Chinese, with the crab rolls and duck sauce?"

A genuine look of surprise came to her face. "How the hell did you remember that?"

"It's because you use to order it all the time. It'll take me more than just 10 years to forget." He literally saw her eyes sparkled like a child. "Stay here and don't leave this room."

Mandy smiled and waved her fingers at him from the comfort of the bed. She watched in her silence as John left the room, leaving nothing but the soft click of the door behind him. Moments later, Mandy's smile fell.

* * *

The sensation of sudden isolation ripping into her heart while she laid there under the cold covers. It was so quiet for her and she literally could make out all the little sounds around her, which wasn't much since everyone was settling down for the day. The sun had disappeared and Mandy could clearly see that through the open windows.

She preferred to go gentle into the good night and slowly started to close her eyes. The mattress was a blissful cloud and it didn't take long for her to drift away from reality and all its horrors...so she was taken back when this shot fired right through the glass window and hit the pillow she was laying on, inches from her head. Mandy's eyes shot open wide, fully awake in seconds. In a flash, she rolled off the bed and onto the ground. She looked up to see a woman walking steadily into her room, gun in hand. They made eye contact for a fraction of a second before Mandy bailed, sliding across the bed once more just as four shots rang out behind her.

"Holy!" Mandy shouted and kept down low, hearing Perkins moving around behind her.

Perkins smiled. "Long time no see, Mandy." She peeked her head around the corner to see if she could spot her. "I thought I'd let myself in."

Mandy narrowed her eyes. "Then you can see yourself out...in a body bag." Her voice cut in deep. Looking around desperately, her eyes honed in on a pillow and she grabbed it like it was the most trusty weapon in the room and began to stuff it with whatever was around her, anything that was heavy. "The fuck are you doing here?"

"Viggo's giving me four to break hotel rules," she explained.

Perkins withdrew from her cover and pointed her pistol downwards. She tried to fire at Mandy but the heavy pillowcase slammed right into her gunhand and made the shot go off course. Mandy used her free hand to keep the gun away and headbutted Perkin's right in the nose. They both stumbled away from each other. It hurt like a son of a bitch but Mandy hardly looked like it affected her.

Blood dripped down Perkins's nose. "You were always a pussy." she gritted through her teeth that were covered in blood as well.

"Takes one to know one." She wrapped her arms around her neck and trapped her in an armbar. "You always hated me..."

Perkin's gasped from the lack of oxygen and struggled to get free from Mandy's surprisingly iron-clad grip."That's because...you thought you were special," she spat her venomous words out, knowing that it would affect Mandy in some mental battle with herself.

Mandy flinched at the remark. "Bullshit," she accidentally lightened her grip. Soon after, Perkins slams her fist right into Mandy's newly stitched up wound, the pain enveloping her body like a thousand bee stings. "Fuck!" The phone was blazing in her ears when she was suddenly clocked across the jaw.

* * *

The concierge waited patiently by the phone for anyone to answer but it just kept on ringing. He looked up and saw John walking back into the hotel with a bag full of Mandy's crab rolls and duck sauce. It was obvious it was fresh since the bag was hot.

"Mr. Wick," he called out. "It seems that we've gotten a noise complaint from your room."

John set the bag on the table and froze. "What?" his voice dropped and panic swarmed his eyes.

"Is anyone else in the room?"

"Mandy's supposed to be." That was all he said before darting to the stairs, not bothering to take the elevator because it would take too long.

The concierge glanced at the bag of food that John left behind and slowly began to dial the room number once more...waiting in silence with the smell of crab rolls gradually filling the lobby.

* * *

Perkins climbed up on Mandy's back and was trying to strangle all the air out of her. Mandy surely would have passed out from the lack of oxygen if her anger wasn't spiking. She grits her teeth hard and slammed Perkins up against every single shelf in the room to try and get this monkey-of-a-woman off her.

"Get off...me!" She finally found the chance and managed to tear Perkins off her and right onto a table, breaking it under her weight.

Mandy stumbled away towards the bed and gasped as the air returned to her lungs. Her whole body burned and she couldn't stop shaking. She looked down at her wound that bled through her white shirt. She wasn't sure if the stitches broke but they were obviously agitated by Perkin's hitting against it. The ringing phone finally annoyed Mandy enough to pick it up. "Hello?" she answered roughly and crumpled to the floor, her back practically crashing against the wall.

She heard the concierge on the other end. "I apologize for calling you at this hour, but we have received a number of grievances from your floor concerning the noise," he said.

Mandy chuckled a bit through the staggering pain in her side. "Ah, sorry about that. Something, uh...came up." Her voice then suddenly darkened when she saw Perkin's try and crawl out of the room through the open door. "I'll take care of it right now." Mandy hung up the phone. She put her hands on her shaking knees and pushed herself up.

Perkin's scraped her nails against the carpet and crawled out into the hallway as fast as she could, as if she knew what was going to happen if she stayed in Mandy's line of sight for too long. She felt her body grow cold though when the sound of heavy footsteps fastly began to approach from behind. She let out a small yelp when her hair was roughly pulled and she was forced onto her back. Mandy wrapped her long fingers around her neck and held up a long silver knife in her hand.

She wouldn't do it, right? Then she would be breaking the hotel's rules.

Perkins couldn't breathe and saw her death dancing on the edge of the knife. Mandy's eyes even looked clouded, her expression flat and lacking any kind of emotion or common sense. She then took her knife and she swiftly brought it down with the intention to silence her. But before she could do just that, Mandy was suddenly yanked off.

"Mandy, no!" John urged and wrapped both his arms around her stomach, lifting her in the air and pulling his partner away from Perkins.

Mandy held her hands up and dropped the knife, finally coming back to her senses. "I'm cool! I'm cool!" she said and stepped away from John. "I'm...freaking great."

John made it but just barely, having to had come around the corner just in time to see Mandy moments away from killing Perkins.

He reached down and picked up the knife, taking a moment to look over his friend. She was covered in even more bruises and the wound on her side was a gruesome discoloration of red and purple. He can see her stitches, they weren't torn but definitely strained against her bruised skin, which is why it was colored like that. "Are you okay?" he had to ask, wanting to be sure she was truly alright.

Mandy bit down on her lips and avoided eye contact. "Yeah, just...been a long night." Her voice was worn.

John clenched the knife in his hand tightly and stared down at Perkins with overwhelming menace. If looks could kill then she surely would be dead. "Where's Losef?" he snarled and kneeled down beside her.

Perkin's spat blood at him. "Fuck you. I'm not telling you shit."

Mandy's eyes went wide and she took a big step towards her. John, of course, stopped her before she could take a second chance to try and kill Perkins. He was aware of the hatred these two had for each other, though it was mostly because of Perkins always trying to best Mandy in some way or form. It seems as though that hasn't changed at all either. Mandy could still out best Perkins, even in her worse state.

Mandy scoffed. "You really want to start something else right now? I can still very easily drag your ass out of the hotel and shoot you. I don't care. Do you really want to die here?" Her words were so utterly chilling that it made even John a bit surprised.

Perkins looked to ponder on her choices for a bit. "Little Russia," she finally confessed. "There's a church near Cannon Court."

"What about it?" John said.

"It's a front, It's where Viggo keeps his private stash."

"Thank you." John took the end of the knife and struck it against her head, knocking her out. He looked up to Mandy and saw her lifting her hands up in a defensive position for some reason. It was a second later he heard the sound of a cocking gun behind him.

"Do I know you two?" a voice said from behind.

John followed in Mandy's suit and lifted his hands. "I'm thinking so." He looked over his shoulder and saw a familiar old face, Harry standing in the doorway of his hotel room, gun in hand.

"It's been a long time, you two," Harry said and lowered his gun. "I'm actually surprised to see that Mandy's still alive."

"Barely," she muttered and held her bleeding side.

"Everything all right?" he asked.

"Yeah," John said. "Everything's fine."

Harry nodded his head and was about to walk back into his room. "I'll leave you to it, then."

"Hey, Harry." John suddenly called back. "You keen on earning a coin? Babysitting the sleeping one?" He gestured to Perkins.

"Catch and release?"

"Catch and release," he confirmed and looked back up to Mandy, seeing her frown. "What's wrong?"

Disappointment crossed her eyes when a thought came to mind. "Don't tell me...you forgot my crab rolls down in the lobby?"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**I'm back! I hope you didn't abandon me in the time I was gone.**

**"You're my best friend." Did Mandy seriously just friendzone herself? By choice? ...Come on girl...it's obvious!**

**I gotta say though, this was a fun chapter to write for. '_The sensation of isolation_' and '_She preferred to go gentle into the good night_'. I'm actually really proud of myself, but really now...Mandy's like a freaking dog. You can't leave her alone for too long or else she'll become lonely. Imagine leaving your dog and seeing their happy face as you close the door, I'm sure that smile would fall once they realize that you're not coming back. It's kinda how Mandy feels...God knows what she had to go through during those 10 years...which we'll find out the reason why very soon.**


	9. A Man Called Adrian D Romanov

**A MAN CALLED ADRIAN D. ROMANOV**

Mandy would've been in a state of denial but the pain was genuine and throbbing enough that even she can't overlook it. It was a slight immunity to painkillers. Opioid, probably. It was always that blasted drug that never really wanted to work right with her. It's been such a long time since she used it so she forgot all about it until this very minute. Little Russia was right across from them but Mandy truly had to take a moment and sit down on the curbside, drowning in a state of slight dizziness and pain induced groans.

John was beginning to already see the side effects before Mandy did and had her sit down. He ran off a couple of minutes ago to head to a convenience store that was just down the street, trying to see if he could get her anything to drink.

The painkillers weren't working well but Mandy was out of choices since they were already at the church. They can't waste any more time with this. There's a high chance that Viggo'll figure out where they were and what they were going to do with his money. It was just one of those times where she'll have to grin through the pain and get this over with. It wasn't the first time she'll have to do it, she had a pretty decent pain tolerance but that has its limits too.

Twelve minutes later, John finally came back with a bottle of cold water. "You getting dizzy yet?" he asked while giving it to her. The look in Mandy's hazy and troubled brown eyes answered his question without any words being used. She was definitely feeling a bit off from the pain. "Sorry. I forgot this sort of thing happens." He took a seat down beside her.

Mandy cracked the seal on the water bottle and grimaced. "You and me both." She leaned her head back and down at least half the contents in what felt like a fraction of the second. The coldness of the drink soothed her throat a little but was soon hit hard from the pain a moment afterwords. "Son of a..." She bit down on her lips and held her tongue, not even wanting to spend the energy to curse the world. "Nothing we can do about it anymore. We're already freaking here." she gave an annoyed gesture to the church.

"We could leave," John suggested. "Give you a day to relax."

Mandy stared at him silently, lips thinned out and unexpressive. She finally spoke up, speaking flatly but a bit of cracking in her voice. "Don't sacrifice yourself for me. It won't do us any bit of good."

It wasn't often that she was serious, so something must've really been bothering her, not because of the pain and her immunity to painkillers. The chipperness in her voice was gone and as well as that childish sparkle she would get in her eyes whenever they would talk. Ever since the other day, Mandy has been quite short with him and had been purposely avoiding eye contact.

Mandy was dejected for some reason. Like she realized something that wasn't to her liking.

John ran his hand up and down her back and It must've surprised her since she flinched from the touch. Mandy didn't move away though.

It was silent for a minute between them. Mandy did nothing but close her eyes while John made an attempt to soothe her anxious heart, or at least make her smile if only a little. It must've worked though because she looked up at him, patting him a few times on the face, each time getting harder and harder. An old habit of hers. John pulled his head away and he finally saw her smile widely at his attempt to escape from her slaps.

"You alright now?" he asked.

She bit down on her lips and looked back at the church. "No, but when are we ever?"

That statement pained him to hear...since it was true.

* * *

John and Mandy walked into the church side by side and noticed that the inside was partly empty, aside from a couple of people kneeling at the pews. Some of the men had tattoos on their hands and were given Wick and Rose suspicious eyes, fingers twitching with bad intentions.

A priest humbly walked up to them and opened his arms, the tattoos very visible on his hands. "How may I help you-"

Mandy calmly and quickly reached inside her leather jacket, to her shoulder holster and whipped out her pistol and put a round in his leg. A whole rainbow assortment of curse words fell from his mouth when he crumbled to the ground.

Before anyone else in the church could react, John revealed a heavy-duty AR-rifle that was hidden by a leather-coverer. He turned around and shot at anyone who got up from their kneeling position. Three on ground-level and one up top.

"Motherfucker!" the holy man spat words out from the devil's favorite dictionary, only making Mandy laugh at the irony she was faced with

"Sir, this is a church." she flashed her marble white teeth at him and chuckled to herself.

"Fucking bitch!" he could only curse at her while laying helplessly on the ground. The blood was starting to seep through his green robes, but he'll live. _"Do you know who you're fucking with?"_ he said in Russian.

John stared coldly at the man, unwavering in the threat with unsettling calmness. "_Yeah. I do."_ He looked at Mandy and made a gesturing motion with his head, telling her to grab the guy. "Let's go to the vault."

Picking up the injured man, Mandy strolled behind John as the three entered the downstairs vault that was full of Viggo's money, all tucked away behind the safety of bars.

Naturally, it was being guarded by armed men but they were easily shot down or injured by John.

Once they were down there, Mandy shoved the man at the bars. Bars that can only be unlocked by a passcode, a code that only he knew. "Do us a favor and open it," she said.

He scowled at her. "_Do you think you can scare me into opening this gate?"_ he grits his words out through his teeth, hissing venom out at Wick and Rose.

John's voice was low and chilling, mixing oddly well against Mandy's crystal clear words. "_Yes_/Yeah," they said at the same time, mixing his Russian with her English.

The man was beginning to see how dire the situation had become since these two had no intention of falling back. They were deadly serious. "Viggo will kill me."

John then suddenly heard the sound of one of the injured men get up. He swiftly turned around and knocked the butt of his rifle against his head before shooting him down. He turned back to the trembling man, gun still raised and eyes still steely. "Ah-huh?"

He seemed to slump down into himself and thought it over for a moment, gripping the bars with his bloody hands tightly. He gave in to their request and finally punched in the code to open the vault.

John opened the gate and walked inside, gesturing his hand towards the two unarmed women who were harmlessly counting the money. "Ladies, out," he told them calmly.

The two terrified women got up quickly and rushed past John and up the stairs.

"Bye now," Mandy called out to them and leaned against the frame of the gate.

The two began by dumping all the priceless money, cards, CD's, blacklists, everything on the floor until it was at Mandy's knees. John walked out just as his partner dumped the last box of cash onto the ground.

"Mandy, you got the-"

"Yeah, I do." Mandy passed the fire-starters to him.

John waited till she was out of the vault before pulling the pins. He threw the starters onto the pile just when it started to spark and burn the wealth. The fire grew inside the vault before the money was totally consumed by the revenge-driven flames, turning Viggo's priceless stash of cash into nothing but gloomy grey ash.

* * *

It distressed Mandy to sit still and watch as black SUV's swarm the church. Her heart was beating so fast that she could actually hear her blood pumping through her veins, drowning out all other sounds around her.

Viggo was here...right down there. 10 long years have definitely aged that man but he didn't look different at all in Mandy's rusty-colored eyes that were starting to turn a bit glassy.

She struggled with a smile, clenching down on her forearm and with her long nails. "Viggo..." she said bitterly with her trembling lips.

John glanced at her from the corner of his eyes, heeded the odd pain in her voice but decided not to say anything. He knew this behavior was from that time long ago, a time he was still in the dark about. Mandy hasn't mentioned anything about that night 10 years ago. What happened and what Viggo must've done to her, but there was definitely resentment in her voice when she spoke his name.

Down below, Viggo was practically boiling with anger. His face was red and his voice was seething. "_Get me that fucking idiot!"_

John and Mandy watched quietly from the rooftop and watched as the priest figure who was shot and killed, right in the middle of pleading for his life.

John gave Mandy a little nudge on the shoulder and made a motion with his hand. She nodded and moved out separately to cover more ground and box Viggo and his men in.

She hunched down low once she made it down to the streets. Peeking over the black SUV's though, Mandy spotted Viggo heading through the parking lot, face flushed with anger. In that very instant, she was overwhelmed with the longing to put him down, fire one shot into his head and end his long life that should've ended 10 years ago...for what he did to her...why must he continue to live while Mandy suffers?

But this act of revenge wasn't for her. Being here now, being able to see John again. The only reason she doesn't go with her desires was because of him. Because of his loss, the loss of his wife and the last gift she gave to him. Mandy knew with every ounce of her being that she can't screw this up, she can't jeopardize this with her own selfish needs.

She bit down on her lips until she tasted the iron of her blood and shivered. Closing her eyes, Mandy waited, hunched over behind the cars until the sound of rapid gunfire began with the first bullet John gave out. The parking lot erupted in a hailstorm of ammunition that forced everyone to dive for cover, including Viggo. John swiftly unloaded the whole magazine in his rifle and hunched down low for Mandy to fire off her rounds from her pistol. Bullets penetrated the cars parked in the lot and the bodies began to drop more and more often.

The sound was absolutely ear-rattling for Mandy. She forgot what it felt like to have her whole body vibrate from the recoil, and what it smelled like to have the sent of gunsmoke overwhelm her senses. It was neither addicting nor fun. What it was though was numbing. Like every feeling she possessed went on autopilot or just stopped working. Mandy felt nothing for this kind of job. She felt like she was a machine...a machine that could still feel pain.

The adrenaline rush was real but it wasn't able to hold back the throbbing discomfort her injuries were going through. And with a sudden spike of pain, Mandy gasped deeply and felt her gun slip from her hands. Rippling, pounding and violent, she could no longer handle the ache her wounds were putting her through and collapsed to the ground. She broke out into a cold sweat and started to give struggled breaths. The surrounding sounds melting away to a nonsensical buzzing in her ears. "John...?" she weakly called out but knew he couldn't hear her. Her world started to fall away when her eyes became heavy, and very slowly...she slipped into unconsciousness.

John actually noticed immediately when Mandy stopped firing. Her gun is a high caliber so the pop was always the loudest, but now he couldn't hear it anymore. She couldn't be reloading because it surely wouldn't take her that long. "Mandy?" he called out but she didn't answer back, spiking a dreaded sense of anxiety through his body. "Mandy!" He was forced to duck down low when the windows of the car below out. John dropped the smoking magazine to the ground and quickly reloaded.

He knew if Mandy wasn't yet dead than she would have to be unconscious. Mostly likely from the wounds she sustained from the Red Circle. He could curse himself right now for many things. How could he forget that she had immunity to her prescribed painkillers? Why did he just push on with the mission when he KNEW she wasn't ready for it?

John didn't even have the reaction time to notice a speeding car coming to his left. It rammed into the SUV he was hiding behind and slammed into him, knowing him to the ground. In that small window of consciousness he had left, he saw Viggo and his men slowly surrounded him...and Mandy was still gone.

* * *

It was only a faint thought that lasted for a fraction of a second, but something in the back of her mind, deep in her mind, didn't want to wake up. Mandy didn't want to face the world. She didn't want to open her eyes and feel the same throbbing pain that had lasted for the past 10 years. Given the chance, she would retreat into her safe dark corner and never return to the light ever again.

But it appears she can no longer do that anymore and is forced to face down the man who had haunted her dreams for a decade. "Long time no see, Viggo. You definitely gotten older." She offered with a chipper voice that pained her to do.

Viggo laughed at her attitude. "So have you. They sure as fuck broke the mold with you and John." One of his men pulled up a chair in front of them and Viggo sat down. "You both had quite an audacity about you. I can say that you two are the same John Wick and Mandy Rose of old."

Her smile fell and she cast a glance to her left, seeing John hunched over beside her. He was awake but frighteningly silent. The only thing he did was look up at Viggo with these glowing eyes of a predator ready to pounce.

Mandy spoke up to him. "Hey, you alright?" she said softly

John shifted his heavy gaze over to her and they relaxed a bit when he saw that she was alive. "Yeah. And you?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I guess." She couldn't answer him honestly since the pain on her side was still very prominent. Not to mention the position she was in right now, being tied up was very uncomfortable. "Viggo, you once said that people don't change...is this what you meant?" she asked and looked up at him, meeting his gaze.

Viggo scoffed. "Times, they do." His eyes seemed to glow with anger. "Do you know what was in that vault? Artwork, cash, not without its worth, but the leverage I had on this city, audio recordings, physical evidence, blackmail. It was fucking priceless!" he shouted and sprung up from his chair. "PRICELESS!"

John shifted his eyes to amusement. "Yeah. I think I enjoyed it a lot more than Mandy did."

Viggo chuckled. "I know you did." He took his hand and slapped John hard across the face, trying to vent his anger any way he could. It helped a bit Because a murderous growl came deep from Mandy's throat. Threatening and hungry.

Mandy's suffering seemed to amuse him more than injuring John.

"Then after Mandy left...it gave you a chance to marry someone, ah?" Viggo saw the hurt shift in Mandy's eyes at the mention of it. "How did you manage that anyways?"

"Lucky, I guess," John glared.

"Yeah, while you had your wife, I had my son, and Mandy had Adrian. And believe me...you and I had a far better deal."

Did the room just suddenly turn cold?

Mandy's head snapped up and her eyes grew wide, showing off every golden flake in her eyes that danced under the dim orange glow of the room. She looked as if someone had just shot her and her mind was only now beginning to process the terrible thoughts. She looked frightened...Mandy actually looked terrified right now at the mention of that name...a name that hasn't been used in over 10 years.

John saw the way his partner began to panic. "Adrian?" he spoke, confused because he felt like he heard that name before. He knew it...but only knew it for one reason. "What are you talking about, Viggo?" he immediately regretted saying those words with the way Mandy looked at him. Pleading, begging him not too.

All the color drained from her face when the odd feeling of 'fear' found her once again, wrapping around Mandy's body. Is this why she found the room so cold? Fear? "John, no." Mandy's voice cracked, moments away from crying.

Viggo's bemused smile stretched far across his face. "I had a feeling she never told you, the little coward."

"Viggo...!" All the strength just evaporated from her voice like an open wound.

"Then if you don't know...allow me to elaborate about Mandy's dirty little secret." One of his men handed Viggo what looked to be a black briefcase. "John, do you remember that task I gave you? The Impossible Task." He ran his fingers over the locks and popped them open, one after another just to see Mandy flinch at each sound. Tears were beginning to form in her eyes. "I ordered you to do away with a family...a rival gang family." There was one last pop of the lock and Mandy's tears finally began to fall. "The Romanov family."

John hesitated to speak and was growing more and more concern with what was happening. "Yeah, but before I even got to them, they were nothing but a shell...a shadow of their former self."

Mandy was crying and Viggo was absolutely delighted by that fact.

A sharp laugh echoed from Viggo. "Right, right. They were like that though because they had no leader...because he died. He was a man called Adrian D. Romanov." He opened the case and pulled a couple of things out. Pictures by the looks of it, and threw them to the floor right in front of a hysterical and catatonic Rose. "And he was Mandy's lover."

The news shook John to his very core and made him honestly feel sick. He took one last look at Mandy the moment her eyes fell upon the pictures. Her pupils grew wide and her body started to shake uncontrollably

Viggo was unsympathetic to the woman before him. "And I had that fucker killed."

The pictures were grim and stomach-wrenching. It showed what looked to be a man laying on the ground face-first in his own blood. The side of his head, blown out and exposing all the brain-matter that ran down into the hardwood floors...in Mandy's own house.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**And the truth comes out in the worse way possible. Mandy had a lover...that wasn't John? Bet you didn't see that coming. I will be explaining it more fully next chapter though and will even have a flashback of that night 10 years ago. The night Adrian died. I wonder how Mandy and John's relationship will handle this giant secret drop. Well...I'm excited to show you!**


	10. The Ghost of 10 Years Ago

**THE GHOST OF 10 YEARS AGO**

_10 Years Ago_

_It all started one night with a phone call at 1:55 A.M. The chiming and buzzing sound on Mandy's bedside table made her eyes snap wide open, fully awake in seconds. She didn't move from her spot on the bed, wrapped up in Adrian's arms as the man slept peacefully beside her, head buried deep in the back of her neck. Mandy's phone was loud and it buzzed like an earthquake, but Adrian slept like a log. The world could be ending and he still wouldn't wake up. She envied that aspect of him, sleeping without any worry. _

_She would've ignored the call, go back to sleep and answer the next morning, but the point was that it was in the middle of the night, telling her that it probably couldn't wait until then. So c__arefully and quietly, she took her lover's hand that was situated on her waist and unraveled it from her body. The feeling of fleeting warmth made Mandy's whole body long to just fall back asleep beside him. Oh, how she craved his warmth._

_Grabbing her phone from off the table, Mandy glared down at the number on the screen. She was right on the dot with that. It was Viggo calling her, and it was that thought that sent shivers down her spine like ants all over her skin. _

_Mandy cast an anxious glance down to Adrian's face. __He was quite a rugged and handsome man. He had semi-long black hair that was just long enough to run your fingers through and a pair of washed-out gray eyes that looked like a growing storm. A storm she would've happily let herself be swept up into. He also had scruff on his face that's been growing for about a week now. Mandy's been pestering him to shave but she feared that he might've grown attached to the shadow on his chin._

_Mandy glided her hand across his peacefully sound face, tracing upwards towards his hair that felt like silk through her fingers. She frowned to herself and ominously glanced down at the still ringing phone in her hand. "The hell does Viggo want?" she said in a soft whisper. Mandy got up from her comfy bed and headed out the door to the downstairs living room._

_The living room always had a dark modern feel to it, so it was hard to navigate whenever it was nighttime. Mandy fiddled around for the lamplight for a bit before almost knocking into the very thing she needed to find. She turned the small knob on the light and let the soft glow illuminate the room, finally giving her the opportunity to sit down on the gray couch that wrapped around the living room. __O__ut of habit, she reached across to the coffee table in front of her and felt the leather holster of a gun underneath it. It was her back-up gun that's been there forever. It quickly reminded her that she needed to clean it sometime soon since it's been a while._

_"Viggo?" Mandy answered in a sleepy voice. "Do you know what time it is right now?" She wasn't quite sure of the time herself and had to look at a clock that was across the room. "It's almost 2:00 in the morning. What do you want?" _

_"I'm sorry to disturb you at this hour, Mandy, but something came up...and I don't think it can wait," Viggo said._

_Mandy cocked a brow and began to feel her heart speed up a bit. "Okay...? What's wrong?" She didn't like where this was heading. Something was wrong. She could just tell by his tone of voice. Viggo was good at keeping it together but she knew he was angry about something...something she might know of._

_"Do you remember...I gave you a contract to kill a certain man. It was a 1 million dollar contract to kill the leader of the Romanov family."_

_Mandy hunched over and started to feel her hands tremble. She felt a pit began to grow in her stomach as this sickening feeling washes over her, setting every single nerve in her body on fire. "Yeah," Mandy said through her teeth. She tried to calm down and convince herself that he didn't know, but why would he call in the middle of the night and suddenly bring this topic up? "What about it? I took it and decided against it later on."_

_"You know damn well that you can't withdraw from a contract once you take it," Viggo growled out his words and Mandy's heart stopped dead in her chest. "I made and printed out a goddamn piece of paper for you to sign and read over. Don't play games with me, Mandy. I know about you and Adrian."_

_It was a hard blow right into her chest and Mandy actually had to pull the phone away to gasp for air. In the split second of silence, she went over all the possibilities of how Viggo could have figured it out. What gave it away? Was someone watching them? "Viggo..." Viggo cut her off before she could even say anything._

_"I'm calling you because I'm just trying to figure out...why you would do something like this."_

_"Listen to me for a moment. Viggo, please." Once again, he didn't listen, letting out a big sigh that completely made her shrink down into herself._

_"I'm sorry, Mandy." His voice softened but not in the way she wished. He wasn't just angry. He was frustrated too. "I really am. But I went over all this with you when you accepted the contract. I wanted Adrian Romanov dead." She heard his voice harden up._

_Mandy dropped her head into her hands and did everything in her power to stop the trembling. "I know that already." She wasn't strong enough to make her voice stop cracking though. "I did read the contract that you give me-"_

_"Than why are you fucking him if you already knew?! I don't want an answer, Mandy! I want results." he shouted, causing Mandy to flinch. "So you need to make this right. You're the one who fucked up, so you need to get your shit together and work the damn job that YOU accepted."_

_Her chest felt tight and she swept her hands through her hair, pulling at it until it began to hurt. Mandy had to put the phone down on the table and had the volume on high so she could hear. Tears were already falling from her glassy brown eyes and her heart was about broken and in shambles, as Viggo continued._

_"I didn't want to do this to you, Mandy. I really didn't. You have been a great help to me for as long as I can remember, but this...this I can't overlook. You either do it yourself or someone else will."_

_Mandy snatched her phone back up. "Viggo-" __He had already hung up, dropping this mountain size burden right onto her shoulders, not caring at all that it was crushing her into oblivion, a place she would never be able to come back from again._

_Her phone fell from her hand and clattered against the carpet. She began gasping like there wasn't enough oxygen in the air and the world twirled out of her control. She couldn't see and she couldn't breathe. She couldn't move and she couldn't think. All her functions were failing and Mandy swore she was going to pass out when...a voice made everything stop still._

_"Babe?" Adrian's voice was deep and smooth. His voice was the calmness of a storm, the eye of the hurricane, the hurricane being...what he was about to walk into. He inched around the corner into the living room and saw Mandy hunched over on the couch and silence. He also noticed that her hand was under the table, gripping something in her palm. "Mandy?" He spoke calmly and took one last step before seeing Mandy's hand snap up, brandishing her revolver in her hand and pointing the loaded weapon right at him. Adrian's eyes went wide and he immediately put his hands up, not frightened but extremely confused since Mandy was trembling. It was supposed to be the other way around. "Mandy put the gun down. You're shaking so I know you don't want to do this." His voice never lost its calmness. It wasn't angry, nor was it scared. _

_Why would he be scared of the woman he loved?_

_Mandy's own voice was shaking just as much as her hand was. Tears fell down from her puffy red eyes, confused and frightened by her own actions. "I...I don't Adrian..." She shook her head and closed her eyes tightly before opening them again, tears continued to fall, breathing erratic. "I really, really...don't wanna. Oh, God..."_

_This was it. This was the moment she made herself come too. Pull the trigger and the whole dream would be over...the beautiful...most wonderful dream she had ever let herself slip into. Mandy didn't want to pull the trigger, and looking into Adrian's calm and smothering misty eyes didn't help. So strong and deep...reminding her an awful lot like John Wick._

_John was the same man Mandy only wished loved her...just as much as she adored him._

_She had to do it. She was ordered to do it, but in the end...of course, she would've never been able to pull the trigger on him._

_Mandy used her free hand and covered her eyes, lowering her gun and clenching ahold of her throbbing chest. It burned her with this sorrow that was as deep as Mariana Trench, knowing that this act of betrayal will torture her for the rest of her life. "Adri-"_

_**BANG!**_

_Mandy looked up just as Blood filled her glassy eyes. It was all she truly could see in the fraction of a second it happened. She watched as the light faded from Adrian's eyes, that still haven't grasped what had just happened, before slowly sinking to the back of his head. His body doubled over on the ground and blood poured out from the bullet hole in the side of his head, running off the carpet and seeping under Mandy's toes. __Her whole body cringed with the warm sensation she never wished she figured out._

_Mandy would've imagined that the panic would've set in that very instant...but nothing happened._

_She would expect her chest to tighten that very moment...but nothing happened._

_The silence wasn't void to her though and her own heart was still beating as erratically as it was when she was talking on the phone with Viggo only a short while ago._

_Mandy's lips parted very slightly and a sharp gasp escaped her lips. Breathless and cold, all the color drained from not just her body but the world as well. A gray world that was so emotionless and cold that it would burn to even touch the slightest thing. Mandy couldn't even feel the blood at the bottom of her feet anymore and she was sure that the revolver in her hand had finally frozen and became one with her skin._

_There was a crashing sound behind her but Mandy still didn't rip her eyes away as armed men swarmed her home. They had guns in their hands, wore black suits with masks over their faces. She could see at the corner of her eyes that they were Viggo's men._

_They killed Adrian D. Romonov...right in front of the woman who couldn't save herself from loving him._

_It was like she was cursed, cursed to never be able to hold anything, watching as time floated by, seconds after years. Never again will he smile at her. Never again will he hug her. Never again will he understand just how important he was to her, and never again will he utter the most important words that could ever be said to her._

_"I love you...with all my heart, and forever!"_

_It finally hit...and oh, did it hit her hard. Reality flooded back into her mind and it was nothing but a trainwreck. She couldn't breathe for the longest second and the world was starting to become blurry with tears. Mandy gasped loudly and slapped her hand over her mouth, feeling her knees finally give out and falling._

_"Target is down." a voice said, a man carrying a gun that hovered over Adrian's still-warm body. "I repeat. Target has been eliminated. Adrian Romanov is confirmed...dead."_

_Mandy snapped her head up when all the sound faded to an annoying buzzing in her ears, like TV static. Her eyes sharpened like daggers and very slowly, she turned her head side to side to see how many men were in her house and how many of them were in range. There were four in her living room and two going upstairs. Another four in her kitchen and perhaps at least five outside, judging by the flashlights shining through the darkness._

_"15...people." Her voice was dangerously low, stunningly low like the devil himself had spoken in her place. Mandy looked down at the gun in her hand and muttered under her breath. "Six bullets..."_

_The man in front of her sighed. "What are you muttering, you crazy bitc-" He looked up and his eye reflected the barrel of a fully-loaded revolver, a flash of pure white light emitting from it the moment Mandy finally pulled the trigger._

* * *

Mandy sobbed very softly to herself but no one could see the tears fall. She had hunched over so far in her chair that her forehead was pressed into her lap.

"Mandy? Mandy!" John called out for her repeatedly to get her attention but it's like she didn't hear his voice anymore. He fought a bit more against his restraints but they kept him in place so he wouldn't do anything.

Viggo's deep laugh escaped throughout the empty room and his loud claps made Mandy flinched. "_Rose Red...what a fucking coward and a damn traitor._" His Russian words were venomous, hissing out and scorching Mandy's skin with every word he spoke, knowing full well that he was breaking her down to this pitiful state of despair. "What's really been on my mind though for the past 10 years...was why you didn't want revenge. You're helping John...so why not get your own?" He waited for her to say something but she didn't. She didn't even lift her head. Viggo's jaw tightened and he shot up from his chair and grabbed a fist-full of Mandy's brown hair and forced her to look. "Look at me!"

"Viggo!" John's voice was almost as hateful as Viggo's was. He would've got up but his men kept a firm grasp on his shoulders, keeping him glued to the chair, forced to watched as Viggo broke down Mandy piece by piece while loving every moment of it. "Just leave her alone!" he howled out and felt his voice vibrate throughout his whole body.

Mandy's big brown eyes were puffy and red, stained with tears that haven't been used in over 10 years. She waited till the silence filled the room once more before making her voice known...the reason she didn't want revenge. "It's because I just...couldn't stand this lifestyle anymore. I ran away from everything because I wanted to forget. Forget about this life. Forget about Adrian, Marcus, and...John. I didn't want revenge, Viggo. I just wanted to forget and pretend it never happened."

In the past, Mandy came to this ground-shaking realization that...if you use your fingers and count the people in your life that care about you...and you have fingers left over, then there is something terribly wrong with your life.

John hadn't noticed until now and maybe even Viggo...but there was truly nothing left of his partner, the woman that he thought he knew. It was like he was staring at a ghost of her former self...and he cursed himself for not noticing until now. 10 years ago, when Mandy showed up in his house unannounced, he never realized that it was basically a silent cry for help.

He should've seen and helped her.

He should've got more answers from her.

He should've stopped her from leaving.

He should've noticed...so much more.

"Viggo..." John's voice suddenly got hauntingly low when he spoke up.

Viggo released Mandy's hair and backed away, pulling his coat back over his shoulders. "Yeah?"

John had to bite down on his lips for a moment to compose his words. He glanced over at Mandy and saw her lifeless eyes staring back at him, confused and scared. "When Mandy disappeared and when Helen died, I lost everything. Until that dog arrived on my doorstep. A final gift from my wife. At that moment I received some semblance of hope...and I truly believed it when I was able to see my best friend again. I didn't have to grieve unalone." His eyes clouded like a gathering storm, thunder rolling in the form of burning rage. "But your family and your son...took that from us..."

Viggo rolled his eyes and looked away. "Oh, come on..."

"Stole that from us! Killed that from us! People keep saying if I'm back or if Mandy is back and I haven't really had an answer. But for me...yeah, I'm thinking I'm back! So you can either hand over your son..." John used every ounce of his strength and finally stood up from that chair just as his voice rose. "Or you can die screaming alongside him!" His world was flushed red before a plastic bag was suddenly pulled tight across his face. He briefly heard Mandy screaming before it was abruptly cut off. John couldn't breathe and felt the air becoming thinner and thinner as the world began to slip away. He was still able to hear everything though. The front door opening and closing, Mandy's struggling gasps of air from being suffocated by a plastic bag.

There was this sudden loud gunshot though that struck the window and killed one of the guys holding him down. At last! He could breathe! John felt Mandy kick in one of the legs of his chair and snapping it, causing him to topple over. He ripped the plastic bag off his head and looked immediately at Mandy. She had already broken free and was swinging her own chair around and slam it into the back of one of Viggo's men.

"Fuck!" Mandy bit on down on her tongue and slipped her thin wrists right through her zip ties to free herself. "John?"

"Go after Viggo!" he shouted and tangled himself against one of Viggo's men. "Mandy, go!"

Mandy hesitated at first and made sure John had that guy on the floor before making a break for the back door. She snatched up a nearby shotgun and bust through to the outside and its threatening rays of daylight. She knew she had to cut Viggo off so she ducked quickly into the back alleyway and ran around the building till she saw the gate leading back to the streets. She could hear the unmistakable sound of the black SUV speeding down the road. Breaking open the gate and casually walking out into the street, she saw the car and its desperate attempt to leave the area. Mandy pulled up her shotgun and just unloaded repeatedly into the speeding car until it lost control. She ducked away to the side and let it ram right into a parked car beside her.

"Viggo!" she screeched like a horrid banshee. "Get the fuck out here right now!"

Viggo opened the door slowly and held up his hands. "Cool it, cool it, cool it." He looked and met Mandy's eyes, burning with rage instead of drowning in anguish. "Mandy."

Mandy moved her gun to the side and let out a blast, causing him to jump. "Where is he!"

Viggo continued to hold his hands up and pray that Mandy was serious about not caring about her own revenge. If anything, he was positive she cared more about John's then her own. "Shit!"

Rose Red remained unshaken.

"I have your word that if I tell you where he is, you'll let me walk away?" It was a stretch, yeah, but it was one he was willing to take.

Mandy cocked her head to the side. "Pull the contract and I'll consider it. Now tell me where your son is, you Russian rattlesnake bastard."

Viggo bit down on his lips but gave in. "Done. He's kept in a safe house. Brooklyn. 434 Wallace Place. They know you two are coming."

Mandy rolled her eyes and began to walk away. "Hell if I care."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**This was not planned. I was planning on writing this chapter next week. Starting tomorrow. But I got WAY too into the chapter to stop. I freaking finished it in two days, more or less. Please tell me what you think! I wanted to give you this chapter as fast as I could!**

**But since I'm already off schedule, I might end up doing another Mandy chapter probably on the 17th and 18th. **

**I do hope you enjoyed this chapter because I had a hell of a good time writing it. But...you know. Beauty in the eyes of the beholder. Tell me if you liked it! Oh, and I hope this answered anyone's questions about Mandy's own revenge and why she didn't go after Viggo's ass 10 years ago. **


	11. Burning Wicks

**BURNING WICKS**

Losef's lungs burned as the cigarette smoke settled inside his body for a moment before exhaling it back into the air. No amount of smoking or drinking though could wash over the fact that he was a dead man walking. He sat anxiously in his chair as the sound of videogame gunfire pulsated away in his ears and killed his resolution. The sound ignited every one of his nerves on fire before they were ducked in boiling water and left to die. All around him just felt cold. _He_ felt cold. He felt dead.

He was at a safe house that was covered head to toe with armed guards with someone at every exit, corner, and rooftop. There wasn't a single spot in the whole area that didn't have someone stationed. He's been there for about a day and everything had been quiet so far, but it was the kind of silence that he found unsettling. The walls were closing in on him, the air was covered with smoke, and it was getting harder and harder to breathe with every passing second.

Ever since he got to the safe house he's been at a constant battle with himself, trying to assure that he was fine, that everything was going to be alright...and that he wasn't going to die. The other side of his mind disagreed though and would remember the time Mandy briefly spoke to him on the phone when he was back at the Red Circle. He could recall her voice and her chilling yet promising words that made him want to throw up all over again. God, he never wanted to hear her voice again because he just might crack under the pressure.

Letting out an exasperated groan, he yelled at one of his goons that was playing a loud shooting game on the TV. "Would you stop playing that fucking video game?" he roared when there was this sudden loud cracking sound of real gunfire. Losef's eyes went wide when a bullet broke through the window and killed the goon that was playing the video game. Blood splattered out the side of his head and his body slumped down.

"Get down! Get down!" someone shouted before being shot and killed on the spot too.

Losef immediately dove for cover just as another bullet pierced the glass window and shattered it into a million pieces. For a moment he was totally lost upon what was happening and if the Boogeyman or Rose Red had finally come to kill him. He couldn't even take time to process what was going on before he was yanked up by the back of his coat to be escorted outside and away from the windows.

* * *

Mandy cocked the bolt handle of her gun and a red-hot casing leaped out of the chamber. She frowned to herself and watched through the scope of her rifle to see if she could detect Losef through the windows, yet he was nowhere to be found. The people inside looked like they were scrambling for cover though, so she definitely rattled the bees nest with her attack.

From the looks of it, they had the site totally fortified like a fortress with maybe 20 men as far as the eye could see, guarding the kid. No one could walk up to it without being either seen or shot first, which is why Mandy placed herself at the rooftop right across the safehouse where Losef was being kept.

"You see him?" John's voice echoed out from Mandy's phone that laid on the ledge.

"Nah." Mandy shook her head. "They're keeping him locked away like a princess in a tower. I can't see him from this angle." She leaned back against a steel beam and leveled her rifle down on the edge of the roof and continued to watch as everyone scrambled through the scope.

"Don't let him get away." John sounded anxious since this was the first time they been this close to Losef since the Red Circle.

Mandy chuckled to herself and a wide grin fell upon her lips. "Relax. He's not getting away this time around. I got this. Go ahead and get Losef."

"Okay." John's voice got cut from the line.

Mandy rested her head against the stock of the rifle and narrowed her eyes to a state of absolute focus. Her hands didn't shake and there wasn't the slightest bit of uncertainty in her eyes at all as her finger hovered over the trigger before she pulled it. The gun kicked back before there was this suddenly rapid motion of non-stop firing as she took out every man she saw that was guarding the house.

* * *

Losef felt his heart up in his throat for one second before totally disintegrating the instant he heard this loud sound that made his ears ring with this awful buzzing noise. It was the sound of an explosion. He ran down the stairs to the garage where the cars were supposed to be parked but found no such salvation with them anymore. To his horror, they had been destroyed with explosives, made out of nothing but flames, melting metal and smoke now.

He had nowhere else to go. He was trapped.

Losef continued to run in a blind panic, desperate to find a way out until there was another gunshot from Mandy's rifle. A bullet blasted through the window and pierced him in the leg. He shouted with this agony tearing through him before collapsing to the ground. He gripped his leg tightly and pulled himself against the wall and just laid there, shaking in this cold sweat as this dark figure began to emerge from the shadows.

John Wick looked like the devil, or more precisely, he looked like the Boogeyman. _Baba Yaga. _He was dressed sharply in an all-black suit like he was going to a funeral, wearing menace and murder in his eyes and brandishing a gun in his hand.

John unwaveringly walked up to Losef as the kid began to sputter out his last Russian words. "_It was just a fucking-_" He didn't listen, much less care for what Losef was going to say and silence him for good by putting a single round through his head. His eyes hovered over the cold-growing body of his revenge before swiftly turning around, melting back into the shadows with one thought on his mind that filled him with dread.

It was over, in more ways than one.

* * *

Mandy had already gone outside to wait for John to finish checking out of the Continental Hotel. She stood by a brand new car that was parked outside, biding her time by glancing at her phone every so often, but nothing could help when she felt like she was drowning in this sense of deep melancholy. Her eyes lingered upon the grand building that she known her whole life but never cared about at all. It was a rude wakeup call and without a doubt...Mandy had truly woken up from the dream.

John had got his revenge.

The wick had burned up and it was time for her to leave.

John had retired and Mandy had basically quit without telling anyone. It's been over 10 years so their partnership was as good as gone. There was no reason anymore for her to stay. She knew it was going to happen though. It was inevitable.

Mandy groaned under her breath and pulled her head all the way back until she was staring at the sky. She noticed that rain clouds were starting to gather and judging on the humidity, she took a wild guess that it was going to rain in a few hours. "Damn...I feel stupid." As sad as it was for her to admit, Mandy wished, somewhere in the back of her mind...that John never got his revenge.

It wasn't long till John came walking out of the Continental. "Mandy," he called to her and noticed that she was standing beside a brand new black car. "What's this?"

Mandy smiled and twirled around the key for the car. "A gift from management." She tossed the key to him. "Winston basically wanted to apologize for the, uh, incident that happened last night."

John cocked a brow and walked down beside her. "So you almost got killed...and they gave you a car?"

She waved her hand and rolled her eyes. "I don't care about the car, John. It's why I tossed the keys to you." Mandy patted him on the back before opening the passenger's door. "Come on. There's someone we gotta meet."

* * *

Marcus had finally arrived at the bridge where Mandy and John were waiting for him. "Mandy," he called out and she looked over her shoulder. Mandy's lips turned up into the biggest grin he had ever seen. She jogged over to him and wrapped him tightly in a snake-like embrace to see if she could actually crush him. No such luck because he was still breathing. He gave her a couple of hard pats on the back before she pulled away. "I thought I raised you better than this. How many times do I have to save your ass?"

Mandy scoffed and walked beside him over to where John was. "Ain't it your parental duty to look after me?"

Marcus cocked a brow and shook his head. "I don't remember you being my daughter."

"But taking me in when I was only 15 years old had to count for something, right? No one wanted anything to do with me until you came along." Mandy's voice held a trace of bitterness that reluctantly had to look back at the memories. "You looked out for me until I was 19 years old."

"Worse 4 years of my life." He joked and she lightly slapped his shoulder.

"Shut up, Marcus." She rolled her eyes.

Marcus took one long look at John and was having a tough time telling who looked worse. Mandy or him. "You look terrible."

Mandy had purple and black bruising on her face, but John looked like he was struck by a cement block.

"I look retired," John answered back dryly.

"Retired? You really believe that?" Marcus gave him a skeptical look. "You make a new life. You'll find your way back into it. It's time to go home." Marcus turned to walk away, shaking Mandy's hand while he did so. He locked his eyes with her and turned slightly serious. "I want you to Look out for yourself," he told her firmly.

Mandy smiled and patted his cheek a couple of times until it turned into a harmless slap. "I'll call you later."

He moved out of her reach and began to head out. "I dread the day when you do." Marcus soon walked off, leaving them alone.

Silence captivated both John and Mandy which was noticeably uncomfortable for both of them. They already knew what was going to happen. Mandy was going to leave and John knew it. He knew for a long time, since the beginning of this murder mission. He knew that his time with her was going to be brief and it appears that the moment had finally come. The dread was obvious in her eyes and the sorrow wasn't void from John's either. Neither one of them ever liked the silence but they just couldn't bring themselves to talk about it at the moment.

It took a great deal of courage but John knew he just had to be the first one to speak. Mandy wouldn't. She didn't have the nerve to do it herself and would end up leaving without even so much as a goodbye. "Thank you." His voice was rough, strained and obviously holding a lot back behind clenched teeth. It was anyone's guess what was running through his head at the moment.

Mandy looked up at him and gave him a weary smile, seeing right through his facade like it was a window. "Don't worry about it. Besides, you didn't even need me. You could've easily done it yourself." She patted him on the shoulder and felt his muscles tense up under the fabric of his blazer.

He wanted to say something. Prove to her that it wasn't true. Not only did he want her help, but he craved her attention too. There were just too many things he wanted to say to her but had no idea where to even start. So silence just took ahold instead. The unforgettable and unsettling silence that he hated so very much. He was tired of the silence. He didn't want the silence anymore. It wasn't always like this between them...but now things were different...they were different.

It felt like they were strangers now.

Now that everything was over, he could truly see the 10 years' worth of damage behind the amber-brown in her eyes. It was going to suffocate him if he stared at her for too long, but looking away really wasn't an option either.

Mandy waited for at least a couple more seconds, seeing if John was going to speak to her. He never did though, so she immediately avoided eye contact with him and backed away to lean against the cold railings. "So what are you going to do now? Go home? Sleep for a week?" she asked and cocked her head to the side.

John lowered his head and smiled. "That doesn't sound like a bad idea." He looked up and met her uneasy eyes, waiting for him to say the one question that they both knew she wasn't going to have an answer too. "What about you?"

Mandy's face fell a little bit, crossing her fingers and tangling them together like it was a nervous twitch she did when she didn't know what to say. "Honestly...I haven't thought that far ahead yet." Her lips turned into a frown of uncertainty before quickly masking it with a smile, hiding the fact that she was anxious. "Don't worry about me. I'll think of something." She blew it off.

That was starting to become a bad habit of hers. Smiling instead of answering him properly.

Mandy sighed deeply and looked up at him. "If you need anything...don't ever hesitate to call me and ask, okay?" She took a breath and her outer expression caved in if only a little, moments away from breaking if she didn't leave at that very moment. She didn't like crying and especially didn't like doing it in front of John. "I'll be seeing you." She tipped her finger up to her forehead and gave a half-hearted salute before turning on her heels and walking away from him for the second time in her life.

Her feet tapped hard against the concrete floor and her heart grew heavier and heavier by the second until it felt like it was made of led. Mandy couldn't hold back the tears anymore and decided to wilfully let them fall, streaming down her face and blurring her eyes as she grew far away.

It was an overwhelmingly bitter feeling in the back of her throat, and oh God...how she wished she could just disappear from the world right there and then.

"I'm sorry." It surprised her because the voice came from John. "I wish I could've done something back then."

Mandy stopped and glanced over her shoulder, staring at John with her ever-growing glassy eyes. She knew she was far away enough to where he wouldn't be able to see her tears. She cleaned her throat before speaking. "John, that was over a decade ago. You can stress about it all you want, but what's done is done." She had to bite down on her quivering lips once she was done talking.

John appeared reluctant and took one step towards her. He stopped though when Mandy took one step back, purposely keeping the distance between them. "You use to tell me everything, so there was nothing I didn't already know about you...so why didn't you tell me about Adrian Romanov?" He wanted to know what was going on in her head so badly. He knew that if she left right now then it would be the last time he would ever see her. Mandy would just sink into the world, never to be seen or heard from again. Never to know if she was alive or dead.

Mandy lifted her arms and dropped them at her side. "Once again...that was over a decade ago. Does it really matter at this point in time? I made the mistake of dating the guy I was supposed to kill. He ended up dying anyway. That's about it...nothing else."

John's eyes sharpened because he knew at that point, that comment, her words...he knew she was lying. "You're not telling me everything." He didn't care anymore and began to march right back over to her, startling Mandy into freezing. He saw her eyes grow wide as well as the tears falling from them. Mandy was silent, completely and utterly unwilling to open up at all. "You hate this job but you jumped back in when I needed help...can't I do the same for you?" he pleaded.

Every muscle in her body tightened and her heart fluttered like a forest fire, burning hot and painful. She continued to stare at the ground as John's eyes narrowed in on her. Her head fell to the side and she finally looked up at him, speaking these words that she knew...would change their whole dynamic, all while smiling with defeat and with a voice shattering like glass. "It's because Adrian told me the words I never knew...I was so desperate to hear." Mandy gasped for air since her continuous crying was making it hard for her to breathe. "_'I love you_'."

He might as well rip her heart straight out of her chest.

* * *

Marcus crept in through the emptying streets to make the long track back to his house. Just when he was about to make a turn into his apartment he soon noticed that something was quite off and had to stop to look over his shoulder, seeing an unknown face following close behind him. Looking back around, there were at least two more men getting out of a black SUV and moved in front of him, blocking his path. Marcus turned his head and saw his front door open with Avi standing in the doorway. His lips curled up and he rolled his eyes to the back of his head and went inside his house with everyone following.

Marcus was disarmed first before he could even take his coat off. After, he turned around to face the unwelcome intruders that darkened his doorstep. "Let's get this over with, whatever the fuck this is."

A deep and darkened voice echoed from the halls like a parasite itching to attack. "I'm already well aware that you and Mandy are not actually related but...you know. Like father like daughter."

* * *

John had never seen her look so vulnerable before...and it pained him to know that he was the cause of her suffering. How long had he knew her, talked to her, and worked with her? How many hints did she drop in the duration of their time together and how many times did he hurt her when everything flew right over his head. Mandy fell in love with Adrian because...John was too far out of her reach.

Mandy shoved past him and walked back over to the railing. Her breathing was shallow while wiping away the tears with her sleeves. "Viggo was right. I am a fucking coward. I never said anything to you because I was to damn afraid that I would screw up our partnership." She was angry but solely at herself for letting things get so messed up. A decade went by but nothing really changed, Mandy felt like she was still living in the past. "When I met Adrian...it felt like a weight off my chest. But when he died...I freaking lost it." Her voice dropped to this deep undertone from old wounds finally resurfacing.

She just stood there now after speaking her peace. John didn't say anything and watched her pull her face into her hands. He approached her cautiously to see how she would react but she didn't do anything, which was worse. He opened his arms and pulled her close to him, enveloping her in his warm embrace. It felt like a bittersweet memory, one that came from the last time he hugged her, the day she ran away all those years ago. John dropped his head into Mandy's hair while she responded by wrapping her arms around him too. He took the silence to just soak up everything about her. The smell of her cinnamon shampoo and the lavender scent that came off her clothes. Years of working together made her naturally mold perfectly against his body, causing John to hear her pattering heartbeat resonate within him. He didn't say anything. He didn't want to say anything because he knew Mandy didn't want to talk, but he knew he had to ask her at least one more question.

He pulled away and ran his hands up to her face and felt her tears brushed against his rough and weathered hands. John looked her in the eyes and she stared right back, motionless and sad. He hated seeing her like that. "Mandy...please. Just tell me what you want."

Mandy breathed very softly and reached her hand up. She gently caressed the side of his face that was bruised and scarred from battle. She smiled weakly though when he leaned into it and closed his eyes, totally entranced and at peace. "John...I just don't want to be alone anymore."

John let out a sharp breath and felt his heart made a leap. He stared at Mandy with wide eyes and felt his hands tremble. Even the air around them felt different. They stared at each other in an odd way, something different between their gazes now. Something known...yet remained unspoken.

There was a sort of longing in John's eyes while he ran his fingers through her hair. "Mandy..." he was only able to get her name out when reality collapsed back into itself...Mandy's phone was going off. John forced his hand back and clenched it tightly until it turned a stark white.

It took a bit more time for Mandy to come back to her senses and pull away. She cleared her throat and turned around, trying her best to straighten herself up before answering the phone in a brittle tone. "Hello?"

"Hello, Mandy," Viggo's voice haunted her and made all the hot blood rush from her body.

"Viggo?" Mandy looked back at the ID and immediately slapped her hand over her mouth when the name said 'Marcus'. She bit down on her lips as Viggo continued.

"I appreciate you and John granting my son a swift death." He waited for her to respond but she stayed quiet. "I wouldn't know how to reply to that either."

"Viggo," Mandy growled out through her teeth.

John's eyes went wide at that name and immediately placed her phone on speaker to hear.

"Like father like daughter. Marcus betrayed me. And in so doing, he broke the cardinal rule. So, Mandy...I had no choice." Viggo said with a voice that was oddly calm before he hung up, the dial tone buzzing loud in their ears.

Mandy stumbled a bit and dropped her phone and it shattered on the ground upon impact. Her mind flooded back with these memories of long ago that had resurfaced back into reality. She looked up at John, her face as white as a sheet and completely horrified.

* * *

The drive to Marcus' house was swift if anything, only lasting for 10 to 15 minutes, but the whole time it was nothing but a haunting silence. Mandy didn't speak and neither did John. The moment he stopped the car though, Mandy ran out and jogged over to the door, running right in without a single care if anyone was on the other side.

"Mandy!" John hissed and followed close behind.

She hurried up the stairs but came to a screeching halt when she reached the top. She gasped only once that sounded deep and hurtful, staring at the floor where Marcus laid, covered in blood and motionless. She spoke in a weak, mouse-like voice. "Marcus...?" She collapsed to her knees right in front of him and reached her hand out to the sides of his face. Her hands were shaking when she felt him grow cold the moment she touched him. "Marcus?" His name was the only thing she could bring herself to mutter before her body just totally shut down emotionally.

John ran up a moment later and saw Mandy taking a seat on the stairs, grasping ahold of Marcus' hand that was smeared in blood. She lowered her head into her lap and continued to hold his hand tightly. John took a breath and walked over to her and sat down, rubbing his hand up and down her back. He didn't take his eyes from Mandy even with his phone going off. He just answered it silently and heard Winston's weathered voice on the other end.

"I know what you're thinking, Jonathan. We live by a code. Which is why I'm not telling you that a certain helicopter at a certain helipad is being fueled by a certain someone," he said.

Mandy's ears sharpened to Winston's voice before looking up, still not crying but also not expressing any kind of emotion either. Hollowness took ahold of her eyes and silence captivated her lips. Within the shell of the woman that has been empty for 10 years, John saw something beginning to spark within the hollowness of her being. It was dark, dangerous and absolutely soul-draining.

Viggo has absolutely no idea what he had just released.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**We got two chapters left until Autophobia is done! **


	12. Wilting Roses

**WILTING ROSES**

Viggo drowned within the fleeting and once heavenly aroma of cigarette smoke and alcohol, things that he's been indulging himself in since early this morning. His mind, needless to say, was a muddled mess from the deadly combo, very hazy but having no intention of stopping anytime soon. He didn't care anymore since he knew all too well what was going to happen and what carnage was bleeding through upon the horizon. Everything will be over before daybreak.

It was honestly a miracle that they made it to the docks before the madness could be cast upon them. They were driving at an intense speed towards the helipad as fast as they could while looking over their shoulders for either Mandy Rose or John Wick, probably even both. They would consider themselves lucky if it was Death himself coming to collect.

"Have you got my cigarettes?" Viggo asked.

"Yeah, I got your cigarettes." Avi handed them to him from the front seat.

Viggo tossed the pack of cigarettes in his hand and held a glass of cheap alcohol in the other. Taking in a deep breath and exhaling slowly, he laid his head back against the headrest. He knew this moment of peace was going to be temporary but he made sure to soak up every last second of it one last time before it was ruined.

Seconds later, the stressed voice of one of his henchmen called out, looking over his shoulder and gesturing behind them. "Who's that behind us?"

Viggo glanced over to the back windshield, and sure enough, there was an unknown black car speeding up fast behind them. He smiled wickedly when he saw two people in the fronts seats. Clenching ahold of the steering wheel was Mandy herself with John sitting in the passenger's seat.

"Oh, fuck!" Avi exclaimed. "Yeah. Super. Come on, let's go. Faster! The helicopter's right down there. Let's go!"

Mandy hastily drove the car up beside the one trailing behind Viggo's and rammed into its side a couple of times until it started to fishtail. She didn't let up on the gas and continued to push, splashing water up under her tires and making the whole vehicle bounce up and down. With one last forceful shove towards the edge, it tipped over and plummeted down to the lower level below.

Mandy continued on with her deadset pursuit, clenching the wheel so tight that her knuckles turned white. Her expression was flat but her eyes were hardened into this focused stare.

Avi anxiously looked over his shoulder as Mandy and John began to gain on them. "Shit. Goddamn, I knew they'd come."

Viggo could only laugh as Mandy rammed the end of the car a couple of times, making the whole thing jolt and swerve a little. He chuckled when his body lurched forth from the hard impact. "That was a good one, Mandy." He grinned and looked over his shoulder.

John moved his head to the side and saw a pole coming up in a couple of seconds. "Mandy." He pointed out for her.

"I see it." She replied and swerved the car once more.

She drove up at the very edge of the car and rammed it, locking her foot down on the pedal until the SUV lost control and drifted to the side. It struck the pole hard and wrapped the doors around it, ending the chase.

"_Go kill them!_" Viggo ordered.

The doors swung open and armed men poured out and took aim at Wick and Rose who sat in their beaten-up car, waiting. Mandy immediately put the car in reverse and drove just as they opened fired at them. Their bullets pierced the car and busted out the back windshield. The car quickened its pace and ram right into one of the guys shooting at them. He rolled over the top of the car as John put three rounds through the roof to kill him.

In the meantime, as hell was literally raining down on them, Viggo popped a cigarette into his mouth and lit the end. The world was on fire and it was raining bullets but he didn't care and saw no hurry needed to get to the helicopter. He just casually glanced out the window as Mandy swerved the car around everyone so john could shoot them all down. The numbers were dwindling within seconds. Soon enough it will only be him and Avi left.

Viggo reached into his coat and pulled out a pistol and placed it in Avi's line of sight, speaking in words that the man didn't understand. Avi tried to grab the gun but Viggo teased him and snatched it back a couple of times before it was forcefully yanked from his hand.

"English, please," Avi said, annoyed.

Viggo grinned, speaking with a cigarette hanging from his lips. "Good luck."

Avi's jaw tightened and he began to climb out of the broken down car. "Russian cocksucker." He literally fell out from the wreckage and splayed himself onto the ground filled with broken glass. "Ah! Fuck!" He got up as quickly as he could and began to circle the car.

Mandy slammed on the breaks and both her and John looked around to see if there was anyone else. A bullet suddenly penetrated the driverside door though and about made Mandy jump out of her skin. She set her eyes on Avi who looked just as surprised as she did, knowing that he got so close to shooting her.

Her lips curled and she snatched the gun from John's hand. "You son of a-" She pointed the gun out the window and pulled the trigger, shooting the man in the gut and letting him crumble to the floor. "Stupid ass scared the hell out of me." She took a breath and was about to hand the gun back when John's alarmed voice made her freeze.

"Mandy!"

Viggo's car abruptly came out of nowhere and slammed right into their side. They slid across the wet floor as Viggo pushed them close to the edge of the docks, planning on sending them to hell himself. Everything around them was busted and Mandy couldn't even move the steering wheel anymore. They quickly exchanged each other a look before bailing from the car in opposite directions. John through the shattered back windshield and Mandy out through the front.

John succeeded at climbing out and promptly jumped off just when the car started to tip over the edge. One of his hands caught the ledge in the nick of time but his other slid right off because of the sudden rain shower that made everything slippery. A shout escaped his mouth as he struggled to keep himself from doing a swan dive like the car did. He could do nothing but hold on.

Mandy was a bit luckier and actually managed to leap off before John did, but the moment her body hit the floor she was met with the icy water of rain soaking into her very bones. She let out a frigid gasp of air and felt everything tense up, rubbing away the water that ran down into her eyes. She struggled to get up off the wet ground, letting out a deep breath and seeing it freeze in the air. The moment Mandy's eyes locked with Viggo though the coldness just evaporated. He stood a few feet away from her, waiting with anticipation and resolution.

He was ready to end it. End the long feud between them.

Either it was revenge for Adrian and Marcus or revenge for Losef.

John struggled to pull himself up but his fingers ached and his feet couldn't get any traction on the slippery wall. Just the slightest movement made his grip ten times worse and he swore he was going to fall any minute now. "Mandy? Mandy!" He shouted but she acted like she didn't hear a single one of his pleas. He could see the look in her eyes though and believed it. "Mandy!"

Mandy's eyes were made completely of steel before totally being corrupted with this unquenchable rage. At that very moment, she was no assassin. She was just a woman out for blood. Determined to destroy the one responsible for this whole mess. Mandy was shaking so much it was a surprise she didn't just scream her bleeding heart out at him.

Viggo called out over the storming rain shower. "No more guns, Mandy. No more bullets."

Mandy frowned and glanced at the gun in her hand. She stared back at him and without looking, discarded it over the edge so no one could use it. "Fine."

Viggo breathed heavy and held his hands out in front of him, the rain pelting away around them. "Just you and me, Mandy. Ending something that should've ceased 10 years ago."

She blinked a couple of times to clean the water from her eyes. Mandy's jaw tightened, slowly spreading her legs to brace herself to attack. "Yeah."

It started by Viggo taking a few swings at her just to make her flinch, which she did and backed up a bit. Clenching her fist tightly though, she railed back and slugged him right in the face and watched as blood poured out from his nostrils. He yelped and stumbled away from her.

"Ah! Fuck!" Blood fell down his face that mixed in with the rainwater. "Come on!" He shouted at her.

Mandy swung to the right to hook his jaw but Viggo was able to block, jabbing her in the gut. Her body cringed and burned, hunching over and holding her stomach before ramming her whole forehead right into his face. She braced him against the wall and wrapped her fingers around his neck.

Viggo gagged on his words and yelled out over the rush of rainfall. "What happened, Mandy? We were professionals! Civilized!"

The cracking of lightning made her eyes glow like hellfire, giving her this almost demonic appearance. "When was I ever civilized?" Her hair stuck to her face and rage bubbled in her veins. She grabbed his shoulders and shoved him to the ground.

Mandy almost didn't look the same anymore, eyes wide with this kind of insanity that would belong in a mental institution. There was no remorse left within her, no mask on her face, and no smile adorned to her lips. This was Rose Red at her truest. 'Mandy' herself was nowhere to be found.

Viggo held his hand out in front of him and got back to his feet as fast as he could before she could do anything else. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife, flicking it open.

Mandy eyed it and scoffed. "Well, that's a pretty knife."

He tried to slash at her but she moved his arms aside and dove to the left of him, almost slipping because of the wet ground. Viggo took the chance though and trusted the knife right at her face. Mandy's eyes went wide and she immediately shot her hand up and let the knife stab right through the palm of her hand. She cried out while Viggo continued to push the knife deep and deeper into her hand until the hilt was pressing against it.

Anguish stormed Mandy's eyes as this scolding hot sensation ripped through her body that came from the knife embedded in her hand. "Viggo!" Her voice crackled along with the lightning.

She swept her leg across his and used both her hands, knife including, to shove him down with all her might. She grabbed the handle of the blade and clenched her teeth, yanking the knife straight out of her hand. Holding it above her head, she brought it down straight into Viggo's chest just when he collapsed to the ground. His howels of pain vibrated her ears and set her heart on fire, releasing this pent of anger that had been locked in her heart for over a decade.

Mandy collapsed back against a large piece of pipe as Viggo, critically injured, braced himself against some crates. He stared at her as his body quivered, breathing ragged and strained. "Be seeing you, Mandy." He bit her farewell one last time. His body twitched for a couple more seconds before falling limp.

Mandy took a breath and held her bleeding hand, staring at Viggo for a minute as the world around her got sucked away in this soundless void. "Yeah," she spoke in a breathy tone, her bruised lips breaking out into a weak and defeated smile.

It wasn't the satisfaction she thought she would get. There was no sense of release and no clarity either. For Mandy, killing someone brought her no such joy, even if it was for the sake of her own sanity. It felt like a task that needed to get done. A mission that was given to her by both Adrian and Marcus.

And she completed it. Like she always did.

"Mandy!" John practically screamed over the rain, making her jump.

Mandy finally became aware of John's predicament and fought to get to her wobbly legs. "I hear you, I hear you. Hang on," she half-heartedly and weakly called out to him. Mandy dropped to her knees and grabbed his outstretched hand and held onto it tightly, yanking him off the dangerous edge with one pull.

"Viggo. Is he...?" John asked while studying Mandy in front of him. There was a deep wound in the palm of her hand and some bruising on her forehead but that was about it. She was safe. He closed his eyes and leaned his head into her shoulder for a moment before Mandy pulled him back, placing her hands against the sides of his face.

She smiled and gently traced a cut on his cheek. "It's over, John. Okay? It's over." Her hands fell from his face.

_**BANG!**_

Mandy's whole body tensed up like a stone statue and her eyes snapped wide open, gazing up at John who only expressed totally confusion and bewilderment. Her lips parted slightly, taking in long gasps of air with shuddering exhales. Tears began to well up in her glassy eyes before falling down her cheeks, her body now set ablaze with this excruciating pain. It burned her from the inside out, torching her organs and jabbing them with white-hot needles. It was unbearable until it felt like everything just shut down. Mandy's body became ice-cold numb before she just fell limp against John's chest.

Reality snapped back to John like a rubber band as he tried to stop Mandy from slipping from his arms. His voice was shrill and petrified. "Mandy? Mandy!" He wrapped his hand around her back and felt something warm slip through his fingers. Looking to see what it was though, he saw that his whole hand was covered in warm blood. Panic swept through his brain and quickly looked up, scanning the area to see where the shot came from.

He saw off in the distance was a person on the ground. It was Avi, critically wounded but appeared to have survived long enough to retake his gun and hit Mandy in the back before falling dead.

John's once cool expression had finally crumbled to pure dread as his mind flashed back to a cruel, cruel memory: the night that Helen collapsed by the pier. It felt like he was reliving the same nightmare once again with yet someone else he loved. He laid Mandy on the ground as gently as he could and called her name, her eyes growing heavy by the second. "Mandy? Mandy!"


	13. Home

**HOME**

Springing up from her slumber, Mandy gagged at the very air she breathed and hyperventilated. Her mind was in turmoil and totally disoriented about what was going on. Coming from her back, to the side of her hip burned like a white-hot iron pressing against her skin. It was so unbearably painful that Mandy had to silence her sobs behind clenched teeth, tears falling from her eyes and rushing down her ashy colored cheeks. Cloth of some sort was wrapped around her side to try and slow down the bleeding. It didn't seem to work though since the white fabric had already been stained a bright scarlet shade that was painful to look at. There was just so much blood. No wonder she felt so awful right now.

Mandy was undergoing extreme bloodloss but was still able to look around. She was inside a car. No idea who's it was but that was the least of her problems. "John?" she called out and looked in the backseat. No one there. The driver's side door was open though, so she assumed he must've left. She bit down on her lips and grabbed the door handle and pushed it open. "Ow...son of a bitch." she groaned and dragged her body out of the car, almost falling out if she wasn't still holding onto the handle. It only made a shock of pain course within her and caused her to accidentally let go of the handle and fall on the ground. "Ah!" She swallowed her sobs and gritted down on her teeth, pushing herself up once more

It was absolutely infuriating. Mandy had utterly no idea what was going on and even less of a clue to where John went. Where did he go? Why did he leave her alone? Question after question filtered through her mind but with no one around to save her from them.

Mandy felt panic sweep up inside her, bitting down on her tongue and refusing to think that way. She knew John better than anyone and knew that he wouldn't just abandon her. Mandy couldn't help it though, and just the feeling of waking up and seeing no one around made her...honestly scared. It was almost a traumatic feeling. An old fear of hers that had only worsened with age.

She wasn't lying when she said to John that she didn't want to be alone anymore.

Sucking in a deep breath, she hissed through her teeth that came out in this low kind of growl. "Fucking...autophobia." Her growls turned into a chuckle as she moved around. The car was parked outside a shop of some kind with steps leading up to the backdoor. Mandy took one good look at it though and shook her head. "Yeah, that ain't happening," she said lightheartedly and decided to just sit by the ramp.

The ground was cold and wet, making everything ten times worse than it already was. Mandy didn't know how that was possible but she just figured that her luck might've run its course already. John, Winston, Marcus, literally everyone she knew always described her as having a shit ton of luck. If Viggo was still alive then he would probably agree too.

Coldness pierced her body and made her shiver. She took in a deep breath and just held it there, closing her eyes and hearing her own heartbeat as clear as daylight through her ears. Urgency crept up when the sound of sluggish but heavy footsteps caught her attention. Opening her eyes once more, she gasped sharply when her brown eyes easily recognized John Wick kneeling down in front of her.

He didn't say anything, silently running his hand from the top of her head and down her cheek. "What are you doing out here?" he said in a breathy tone, taking her head into his hands since she was too weak to actually look up now. God, he felt warm against her cold skin.

Mandy smiled and ran her trembling and cold fingers through his hair that was soaking wet from the rain shower. "I got lonely." Her grin was almost wicked, dripping with this childish manner that John felt like he hasn't seen for a while. "Where did you go?" Her voice was depressingly sad.

John's chest tightened from the tone of her voice, taking in a deep and shuddering breath. He reached under to pick her off the ground. "Come on."

Mandy fell limp against his chest and her eyes immediately began to drift close, like she was going to fall into a peaceful sleep at any moment. The fabric of his suit rubbed against the side of her face and she could hear his heart. She was thoroughly surprised by how much it was beating. It was funny really. Mandy was the one bleeding out but John was the one panicking more, even if his facial expression didn't show it. His accelerating heart rate couldn't fool her.

He carried her up the stairs that she would've never been able to climb on her own and opened the backdoor. The window on it was smashed to bits from him trying to get in previously to look around. Mandy immediately heard what sounded to be dogs howling and barking like mad. It was an animal shelter with a wall of cages that were all filled with dogs of various breeds. Every one of them either howled or snapped at the intruders as John placed Mandy down on the table.

Everything had gone to shit and the mental strain on her mind had stretched out far enough, leaving behind a large gash that poured out so many memories. Ones she adored, others she hated, and some she had forgotten about.

It wasn't like the thing people have when they're dying. When one's life flashes before their eyes. Oh no, it was something far worse. It was the feeling of regret that made the memories bloom once more, scraping across the surface of her mind and coming out as tears.

There was this one prominent memory though that she will always retain. Adore it, despise it, crave to relive it. It was the day she met John. A day that happened over 17 years ago. Marcus had been the one to introduce them, and the moment her eyes were set upon John, Mandy was hit with this sense of deep loneliness. It flooded his eyes and poured out his very being. Something wasn't quite right with him, she figured, but if she had to use one word then it would be 'unsatisfied'.

He was just like her. Completely alone and asking for nothing much. A friend if he was lucky.

They found satisfaction with each other's company.

Marcus wasn't the only one Mandy condemned to listen to her mindless babbling and rants. She forced John to listen to her as well. And what really took her back...was when she figured out that he was actually listening to her. His eyes held focus and he never broke eye contact with her the whole time, taking everything she said into consideration and even smiling a bit. Mandy never said anything important enough to remember. Hell, she would forget a lot of what she said the very next day. John never forgot though and remembered everything.

There friendship...was simple yet refreshing. Something new that neither of them really had before.

She wanted to talk to him more. Say what's been on her mind and spill her heart out...but she never did. Invisible chains wrapped tightly around her tongue and she was unable to utter a single word towards him. Fear of the unknown consumed her and she sucked those feelings deep within herself and left them there for over 10 years...but the past always comes back to haunt others who wish to forget.

John fumbled around for some bandages, hydrogen peroxide, and a staple gun they would use on dogs. He looked back over his shoulder and saw Mandy struggling to sit up, wheezing in short breaths filled with hurt. John put everything back down on the table and held her by her shoulders to stop her from pushing herself anymore. "Mandy, stop." He thought she didn't have any strength left in her but was greatly surprised when she suddenly grabbed the front of his suit and held him still. John felt his breath get cut short in his throat when she held his gaze down with her own, staring in his eyes with this severely pained expression.

Mandy's face was an odd but broken up combo of determination, regret, and anxiety. Her voice was coarse when she spoke. Raspy and cracking. "John, I gotta talk to you about something," she said through her teeth, almost sounding desperate. Desperate for him to listen to her.

John felt his chest clench. "You can tell me when I'm done. Just wait for a minute." He fought the urge to just shove her down so he could stop her from bleeding out but his body just naturally responded to her pleas, wanting to listen to what she said.

Mandy shook her head and only held onto him tighter, smiling very weakly at him. "Sorry honey, but my courage only comes once every 17 years and lasts for less than a minute." That statement had never been so true and it pained for her to admit it, seeing how much John's eyes grew, knowing what was about to fall from her mouth. She could feel his hands on her shoulder began to shake with anticipation. He was patient though in the silent minutes that rolled on by for Mandy to gather her words. "I'm a coward...and nothing but a nervous wreck. I can't even talk about my feelings without completely backing out and shutting down. And because of that...I have hated myself for a very long time. I'm done though. So completely...and utterly done." She crashed her teeth together and sucked up the tears that wanted to fall.

She won't cry. She refused to cry.

John continued to be patient with her...just like he always did. He held his breath and braced himself.

"I don't want to be this way anymore and I'm ready to change that no matter what happens between us." She felt her courage retreating from her body like wind through an open window. Her words spilled out faster though. Her heart made a leap...and she opened her mouth for the first time since the moment they met. "John...You're my best friend above everything...but I love you far too much to see you like that anymore. If the world didn't have such a fucked up way with screwing with me... then I would've sucked it up and asked you out a long time ago." She took a gasp at long last and felt the last bit of her courage fall away from her body, leaving her feeling cold with uneasiness.

That was it...she can't undo what's been said and done...and she wasn't prepared for the end.

Silence rolled and nothing was said, making Mandy feel her hope dwindle. "Please say something." The moment back at the bridge had to have counted for something unless it was a fluke. She prayed it wasn't.

John's intense breathing slowed down the longer he stared at her pleating eyes, made from shimmering golden flakes of pure sunlight. Her voice was a joy to his ears, smooth yet curious and mysterious enough to make him crave to hear her talk more. He took a breath and moved his hand from her shoulder, up to her neck, and against the side of her face that was badly bruised. There was something different in his eyes now. Apologetic and loving. "Mandy. Does it really matter that it was a decade ago? I would've said yes...as many times as you needed to hear."

Mandy was quiet, frozen in that one fraction of a second within time itself. It was strange because she was supposed to know his face...but why did it feel like she was looking at him for the first time, seeing a deep devotion and love that filled his eyes. He looked relieved to be able to say that, but beyond even that, he looked happy and content. His touch was gentle like he was being careful to not break her, and his words were heartfelt and true. Mandy's heart had been ignited with this kind of passion that only he could inflict upon her. Only John.

John dropped his head and tapped his forehead against hers, neither of them uttering a single word. Slowly and almost automatic, Mandy reached up to John's shoulders while he wrapped an arm to the back of her head and drew her near. Their lips brushed against each other for a moment, hesitating before finally making contact. It was soft and tender at first like they were just testing the waters before it grew deep and passionate. There was a metallic tang of blood that mixed in with their natural scent, utterly intoxicating. Sparks became flames, coldness washed away completely from their bodies, and Anxiety became void from their minds and only filled with thoughts of each other.

It was a moment that was far from perfect though. Mandy fell away from him, laying limp against his chest and out of breath. It only occurred to John at the very moment that Mandy's skin color had changed once more and was growing paler. He didn't wait for another second and forced her to lay down, untying the cloth around her wound to expose the gushing redness that came from the gunshot.

She still lived up to her name as being the luckiest woman he knows. Mandy's luck wasn't dead yet since it appeared the bullet went through her side and avoided her organs.

He began to pour peroxide over her wound as Mandy yelled out, thrashing her hand around and slamming it down on the table with a loud THUMP. John held her down and tried to put everything together by stapling up the gash with the gun and wrapping it up with the bandages he got too. She started to relax after that and dropped her hand over her eyes, breathing softly now. It wasn't as strained as it was before, so that was a good sign. John was holding his breath the whole time and was finally able to release it. He patted her head and ran his fingers through her hair to calm her _and_ himself down.

John took a glance to the side and his eyes landed on something that made him double-take. There was only one dog that wasn't barking or being even remotely annoyed by their presence. A Pit-Bull with short ashy-brown hair that had an overly calm demeanor about him. It had warm and childish eyes that kinda reminded him of Mandy with the way it was looking at him, curious and somewhat smiling. It's what made John look back at it the first time.

He took a quick glance at the clipboard in front of its cage and saw that it was scheduled to be euthanized the next day.

His heart sank a little.

Mandy cursed under her breath and slid off the table as easily as she could. She watched as John walked over to the cage and kneeled down in front of the dog. Her eyes scanned the room before spotting a leash on the wall, grabbing it and handing it over to him. "John," she said while jingling it in front of him.

He unlocked the door and hooked it around the dog's collar, patting her head a couple of times before glancing up at Mandy. "Come on, Mandy. We're going home," he said, speaking his words to her like it was the most important promise he had made. "Both of us."

Mandy shuddered out a breath and looked down, calming her heart with a smile that could make the world stop still to listen. She closed her eyes and said nothing, silence consuming her but not in a bad way. There were no words needed anymore to plead her case. No words that John didn't already understand.

Out of the lonely darkness and into the world, the kaleidoscope rays of the city cascaded over the dark atmosphere surrounding them, bringing everything to light once again. John and Mandy crossed the boardwalk on their way back home while holding each other up, being pulled by a curious dog leading the way. No words were spoken between them but that was alright. They were merely taking their time limping toward the freedom that had eluded them for over 10 years...now finally within reach.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Mandy Rose will return on February 13 in...Chapter 2: Cleithrophobia! **


	14. Sequel

The sequel is now up!

Mandy Rose Chapter 2: Cleithrophobia


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